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👵 A grandmother 🍞 A flatbread 💻 Not a number
nan

nan

9.4
A computer value that shows a math operation did not give a number
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : NaN
  • Quiet NaNs are normally propagated through arithmetic operations without signaling an exception.
  • quiet NaN
  • infinity and NaN
  • signaling NaN

Examples

  • RS/6000 delivers a NaN according to the operand number.

    Academic text (1999)

  • The standard does not specify the exact encoding of NaNs, but it does indicate in an appendix that it is a mistake to use the sign bit to distinguish signaling from quiet NaNs.

    Academic text (1999)

  • This encoding permits a signaling NaN to be converted to a quiet NaN by setting this bit to one.

    Academic text (1999)

  • If there's a misassigned score value in the game resulting in a NaN, then when it's added to your score, your score will become NaN too.

    Blog text (27)

  • The IEEE standard specifies two types of "special value": infinities and NaNs.

    Academic text (1999)

  • The rounder macro is capable of producing infinity, zero, NaNs, NMax, and DMin.

    Academic text (1999)

  • In ESA/390, signaling NaNs are chosen over quiet NaNs, and NaNs of the same type are selected by operand number.

    Academic text (1999)

  • In a computing context, when a calculation encounters an undefined result, it may return a NaN value.

  • When dividing zero by zero in most programming languages, the output will be NaN to indicate it's not a number.

  • The software crashed because it tried to perform operations on a value that was NaN, causing errors in the calculations.

Synonyms

NaN
vsnan
  • Specialized
8.9

A symbol used in computer programs to show a result is not a number

is the special floating point value used for undefined or unrepresentable results

Compounds

Nan Ling
7.2

A mountain range in southeast China that separates northern and southern regions

Nan Mountains
6.8

A mountain range in the southeast of China that runs east to west

Nan River
5.9

A river in western Thailand that flows south to join the Ping River and form the Chao Phraya River

Surface Forms

nan singular
nans plural

Morphology

nan = not + a + number (transparent) = N + a + N

The computer term is an initialism of the phrase 'Not a Number', so its meaning is directly derived from those words.

Etymology

Nan in computing is short for Not a Number, which literally means 'no number' and marks a calculation that has no valid numeric result. That's why programs show nan when a number cannot be made.