/* Maxima has machine floating point (usually double precision IEEE 754), and
arbitrary length "big floats" */

/* Here are ordinary floats */
3.14159
2.718e0
1.2345d10
1.2345e10
1.2345f10

/* And big floats (always with a "b" for the exponent) */
3.14159b0
2.718b0
1.2345b10

/* Before computing with big float, one must set precision to some value (default is 16 decimal digits) */
fpprec: 40$

bfloat(%pi);
3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197b0