How are real numbers represented in binary form?

I need to store a number that contains decimal places (ie 1.5) inside a binary file, the problem is that I don't know how to convert the bytes back to a number when I want to read this file, I know that for integers I only have to do this: byte[0] << 24 | byte[1] << 16 | byte[2] << 8 | byte[3] for an Int32 in big endian form. What would be the way to do that for a rea开发者_高级运维l number?

---

Have a look at the BitConverter class. It contains methods to convert the various basic types to and from byte arrays. That way you don't need to know how the floating-point numbers are represented in binary.

If you do want to know that, I think the wikipedia article on floating-point is a good place to learn about it.

---

You can't store real numbers as bits. The data that tells the computer if the number is signed or unsigned also tells it what level of sub-integer precision it supports. The computer does a simple division problem.