*Characteristic & Mantisa

*Characteristic & Mantisa

The integral part of the logarithm is called Characteristic and the decimal part called Mantisa. Characteristic may be positive, zero or negative. Negative characteristic is, it is represented it with a bar. The mantisa should be positive, if not, we try to make it by rearrangement as illustrated below

log₁₀ N = – 4.5678,

= (- 4 -1) + (1- 0.5678)

= – 5 + (0.4322).

= .4322