Difference between decimal, float and double in .NET?

Precision is the main difference.

Float - 7 digits (32 bit)

Double-15-16 digits (64 bit)

Decimal -28-29 significant digits (128 bit)

Decimals have much higher precision and are usually used within financial applications that require a high degree of accuracy. Decimals are much slower (up to 20X times in some tests) than a double/float.

Decimals and Floats/Doubles cannot be compared without a cast whereas Floats and Doubles can. Decimals also allow the encoding or trailing zeros.

float flt = 1F/3;
double dbl = 1D/3;
decimal dcm = 1M/3;
Console.WriteLine("float: {0} double: {1} decimal: {2}", flt, dbl, dcm);

Result :

float: 0.3333333  
double: 0.333333333333333  
decimal: 0.3333333333333333333333333333