Western Governors University (WGU) ITSW 2113 D278 Scripting and Programming Foundations Practice Exam

A floating-point literal is characterized by its inclusion of a fractional part, which distinguishes it from other types of numerical literals, such as integer literals. This fractional component allows for the representation of real numbers that are not whole numbers, enabling greater flexibility in mathematical operations and calculations involving fractional values.

In programming languages, floating-point literals are often represented with a decimal point (for example, `3.14` or `-2.0`) to indicate that they can hold both an integer and a non-integer component. This characteristic is vital for applications that require precision beyond whole unit counts, such as scientific calculations or graphics processing.

The other characteristics, such as being a whole number, being negative only, or being written in hexadecimal format, do not apply to floating-point literals. These features are specific to different types of literals or representations in programming, making the second choice the accurate representation of what defines a floating-point literal.