Changing Numeric Representation

Change the representation of your numeric objects to conserve memory by limiting the number of times LabVIEW coerces data.

By default, the representation of a numeric constant automatically adapts to the value of the constant you enter. For example, the default representation of a numeric constant with a value of 1 is a long integer. If you change the value of the constant to 1.1, the representation of the constant changes to a double-precision floating-point number.

If you change the representation of an object through the shortcut menu, the object retains the type you specified regardless of the value you enter.

Complete the following steps to change the representation of a numeric object.

  1. Right-click the numeric object.
  2. Select Representation from the shortcut menu.
  3. Select the data type that best represents your data.
Note  Slide and rotary controls and indicators cannot represent complex numbers.

Some functions, such as Divide, Sine, and Cosine, always produce floating-point output. If you wire integers to their inputs, these functions convert the integers to double-precision floating-point numbers before performing the calculation.

To reset a constant to determine automatically its type based on its value, right-click the constant and select Representation»Adapt to Source from the shortcut menu.