A real alternative to floating points would be a Logarithmic number system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logarithmic_number_system http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

A real alternative to floating points would be a Logarithmic number system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logarithmic_number_system http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logarithmic_number_system) which has been shown to be a "more accurate alternative to floating-point, with improved speed."