What is the purpose of max_digits10 and how is it different from digits10?

To put it simple,

• digits10 is the number of decimal digits guaranteed to survive text → float → text round-trip.
• max_digits10 is the number of decimal digits needed to guarantee correct float → text → float round-trip.

There will be exceptions to both but these values give the minimum guarantee. Read the original proposal on max_digits10 for a clear example, Prof. W. Kahan’s words and further details. Most C++ implementations follow IEEE 754 for their floating-point data types. For an IEEE 754 float, digits10 is 6 and max_digits10 is 9; for a double it is 15 and 17. Note that both these numbers should not be confused with the actual decimal precision of floating-point numbers.

Example digits10

char const *s1 = "8.589973e9";
char const *s2 = "0.100000001490116119384765625";
float const f1 = strtof(s1, nullptr);
float const f2 = strtof(s2, nullptr);
std::cout << "'" << s1 << "'" << '\t' << std::scientific << f1 << '\n';
std::cout << "'" << s2 << "'" << '\t' << std::fixed << std::setprecision(27) << f2 << '\n';

Prints

'8.589973e9'      8.589974e+009
'0.100000001490116119384765625'   0.100000001490116119384765625

All digits up to the 6^th significant digit were preserved, while the 7^th digit didn’t survive for the first number. However, all 27 digits of the second survived; this is an exception. However, most numbers become different beyond 7 digits and all numbers would be the same within 6 digits.

In summary, digits10 gives the number of significant digits you can count on in a given float as being the same as the original real number in its decimal form from which it was created i.e. the digits that survived after the conversion into a float.

Example max_digits10

void f_s_f(float &f, int p) {
    std::ostringstream oss;
    oss << std::fixed << std::setprecision(p) << f;
    f = strtof(oss.str().c_str(), nullptr);
}

float f3 = 3.145900f;
float f4 = std::nextafter(f3, 3.2f);
std::cout << std::hexfloat << std::showbase << f3 << '\t' << f4 << '\n';
f_s_f(f3, std::numeric_limits<float>::max_digits10);
f_s_f(f4, std::numeric_limits<float>::max_digits10);
std::cout << f3 << '\t' << f4 << '\n';
f_s_f(f3, 6);
f_s_f(f4, 6);
std::cout << f3 << '\t' << f4 << '\n';

Prints

0x1.92acdap+1   0x1.92acdcp+1
0x1.92acdap+1   0x1.92acdcp+1
0x1.92acdap+1   0x1.92acdap+1

Here two different floats, when printed with max_digits10 digits of precision, they give different strings and these strings when read back would give back the original floats they are from. When printed with lesser precision they give the same output due to rounding and hence when read back lead to the same float, when in reality they are from different values.

In summary, max_digits10 are at least required to disambiguate two floats in their decimal form, so that when converted back to a binary float, we get the original bits again and not of the one slightly before or after it due to rounding errors.