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  • You're getting confused between exponent and mantissa in the "if the exponent is 5 bits" part. Which exact bit of MSDN do you believe to be inaccurate? Commented May 16, 2012 at 8:46
  • a. The mantissa is 96bits, the exponent is 5 - where exactly did I confuse the two. b. "The scaling factor is implicitly the number 10, raised to an exponent ranging from 0 to 28." - There is no mention of negative exponents. Commented May 16, 2012 at 8:52
  • So the exponent doesn't have its own sign? - How do you know if you have to use E+n or E-n then? Commented May 16, 2012 at 10:29
  • (I was just in the middle of adding another comment, btw.) The exponent for decimal is always in the range 0-28, as specified in the documentation. It's then used in the inverse sense of a tradtional exponent, as documented (value = sign * mantissa / 10^exponent) Commented May 16, 2012 at 10:30
  • I still think your statement of "If the exponent is 5bits and is signed, then the full range is -2^31 .. 2^31 - 1" is extremely confused and/or confusing. I certainly don't know what you mean by it, despite having a pretty good understanding of decimal. Note that the range depends on the size of the mantissa as well as the exponent. Commented May 16, 2012 at 10:31