A "floating-point" is a way to represent real numbers in computers, allowing for a wide range of values. It consists of three parts: a sign (indicating positive or negative), an exponent (which scales the number), and a fraction (or mantissa) that contains the significant digits. This format enables computers to handle very large or very small numbers efficiently. Floating-point representation is commonly used in programming languages like Python and C for calculations involving decimals, such as scientific computations or graphics. However, it can introduce rounding errors due to its limited precision, which is important to consider in applications requiring high accuracy.