How much storage space is consumed by the floating point number data type?

The floating point number data type is designed to represent real numbers that can have fractions, which provides a wider range of values compared to integer types. The size of the floating point number varies depending on the precision. Common types include single-precision and double-precision formats:

• Single-precision floating point (often referred to as "float") typically uses 4 bytes (32 bits) of memory.
• Double-precision floating point (often referred to as "double") generally uses 8 bytes (64 bits).

Given the options, stating that the floating point number data type consumes 4 to 8 bytes aligns perfectly with these standard representations. This range accounts for both the single-precision and double-precision formats, making it clear that the floating point data type requires more storage than many basic data types, but not as much as larger data types like certain custom data structures or arrays. The other options do not accurately represent the common storage sizes for floating point numbers as they either underrepresent or misrepresent how many bytes are typically needed.