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mantissa

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man⋅tis⋅sa

  [man-tis-uh]
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–noun
1. Mathematics. the decimal part of a common logarithm. Compare characteristic (def. 3a).
2. Obsolete. an addition of little or no importance, as to a literary work.
Origin:
1860–65; < L, var. of mantisa addition, makeweight, said to be from Etruscan; logarithmic mantissa so called because it is additional to the characteristic or integral part (term introduced by H. Briggs)
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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man·tis·sa   (mān-tĭs'ə)   
n.  The decimal part of a logarithm. In the logarithm 2.95424, the mantissa is 0.95424.

[Latin, makeweight, perhaps of Etruscan origin.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

mantissa 
decimal part of a logarithm, 1641, from L. mantisa "a worthless addition, makeweight," probably from a Gaulish word introduced into L. via Etruscan (cf. O.Ir. meit, Welsh maint "size").
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Computing Dictionary

mantissa
1. The part of a floating point number which, when multiplied by its radix raised to the power of its exponent, gives its value. The mantissa may include the number's sign or this may be considered to be a separate part.
2. The fractional part of a logarithm.
(1996-06-15)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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