Trailing zero

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In mathematics, trailing zeros or trailing zeroes are a sequence of 0s in the decimal representation (or more generally, in any positional representation) of a number, after which no other digits follow.

Trailing zeros behind a decimal point, as in 12.3400, do not affect the value of a number and may be omitted if all that is of interest is its numerical value. This is true even if the zeros recur infinitely. However, trailing zeros may be useful for indicating the number of significant figures, for example in a measurement. In such a context, "simplifying" a number by removing trailing zeros is incorrect.

The number of trailing zeros in a base-b integer n equals the exponent of the highest power of b that divides n. For example, 14000 has three trailing zeros and is divisible by 1000 = 10³. This property is useful when looking for small factors in integer factorization. Binary numbers with many trailing zero bits are particularly convenient in computer arithmetic.