An axis with tick marks for each floating-point number between 0 and 1 with 3 bits of precision and minimum exponent −5, with an underbrace labelled +1.xy × 2^(−2) to highlight the ticks for numbers from 1/4, inclusive, to 1/2, exclusive.
The binade of exponent −2 in the floating-point numbers with 3 bits of precision and minimum exponent −5

In software engineering and numerical analysis, a binade is a set of numbers in a binary floating-point format that all have the same sign and exponent. In other words, a binade is the interval [ 2 e , 2 e + 1 ) {\displaystyle [2^{e},2^{e+1})} or ( − 2 e + 1 , − 2 e ] {\displaystyle (-2^{e+1},-2^{e}]} for some integer valuee {\displaystyle e}, that is, the set of real numbers or floating-point numbers x {\displaystyle x} of the same sign such that 2 e ≤ | x | < 2 e + 1 {\displaystyle 2^{e}\leq |x|<2^{e+1}}.

Some authors use the convention of the closed interval [ 2 e , 2 e + 1 ] {\displaystyle [2^{e},2^{e+1}]} instead of a half-open interval, sometimes using both conventions in a single paper. Some authors additionally treat each of various special quantities such as NaN, infinities, and zeroes as its own binade, or similarly for the exceptional interval ( 0 , 2 e m i n ) {\displaystyle (0,2^{\mathrm {emin} })} of subnormal numbers.

See also