Compares this instance to a specified object and returns an integer that indicates whether the value of this instance is less than, equal to, or greater than the value of the specified object.
Syntax
Parameters
- value
Returns
A signed number indicating the relative values of this instance and value.
Less than zero This instance is less than value.
-or-
This instance is not a number (float.NaN) and value is a number.
Zero This instance is equal to value.
-or-
This instance and value are both not a number (float.NaN), float.PositiveInfinity, or float.NegativeInfinity.
Greater than zero This instance is greater than value.
-or-
This instance is a number and value is not a number (float.NaN).
-or-
value is null.
Exceptions
Type Reason ArgumentException value is not a null reference and is not of type float.
Remarks
The value parameter must be null or an instance of float; otherwise, an exception is thrown. Any instance of float, regardless of its value, is considered greater than null.
Values must be identical to be considered equal. Particularly when floating-point values depend on multiple mathematical operations, it is common for them to lose precision and for their values to be nearly identical except for their least significant digits. Because of this, the return value of the float.CompareTo(object) method may seem surprising at times. For example, multiplication by a particular value followed by division by the same value should produce the original value, but in the following example, the computed value turns out to be greater than the original value. Showing all significant digits of the two values by using the "R" standard numeric format string indicates that the computed value differs from the original value in its least significant digits. For information about handling such comparisons, see the Remarks section of the float.Equals(float) method.
code reference: System.Single.CompareTo#2
This method is implemented to support the IComparable interface. Note that, although a float.NaN is not considered to be equal to another float.NaN (even itself), the IComparable interface requires that A.CompareTo(A) return zero.
Precision in Comparisons
The precision of floating-point numbers beyond the documented precision is specific to the implementation and version of the .NET Framework. Consequently, a comparison of two particular numbers might change between versions of the .NET Framework because the precision of the numbers' internal representation might change.
Requirements
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
Assembly Versions: 1.0.5000.0, 2.0.0.0, 4.0.0.0