Number.MIN_VALUE

Try it

function divide(x, y) {
  if (x / y < Number.MIN_VALUE) {
    return "Process as 0";
  }
  return x / y;
}

console.log(divide(5e-324, 1));
// Expected output: 5e-324

console.log(divide(5e-324, 2));
// Expected output: "Process as 0"

Value

2-1074, or 5E-324.

Description

Number.MIN_VALUE is the smallest positive number (not the most negative number) that can be represented within float precision in other words, the number closest to 0. The ECMAScript spec doesn't define a precise value that implementations are required to support instead the spec says, "must be the smallest non-zero positive value that can actually be represented by the implementation". This is because small IEEE-754 floating point numbers are denormalized, but implementations are not required to support this representation, in which case Number.MIN_VALUE may be larger.

In practice, its precise value in mainstream engines like V8 (used by Chrome, Edge, Node.js), SpiderMonkey (used by Firefox), and JavaScriptCore (used by Safari) is 2-1074, or 5E-324.

Because MIN_VALUE is a static property of Number, you always use it as Number.MIN_VALUE, rather than as a property of a number value.

Examples

Using MIN_VALUE

The following code divides two numeric values. If the result is greater than or equal to MIN_VALUE, the func1 function is called; otherwise, the func2 function is called.

if (num1 / num2 >= Number.MIN_VALUE) {
  func1();
} else {
  func2();
}

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• Number.MAX_VALUE