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