Maxima thinks 1/3 = 3.3333...

[Meep1000]

I asked Maxima to evaluate:
bfloat(1/3);
...and it returned:
3.333333333333333b-1
So the result is off of the true value by 3. I think I have fundamentally failed to understand some simple aspect of Maxima syntax, but I haven't got the faintest idea what that might be. Could anyone please explain? I tried ChatGPT, and it seemed convinced that floating point error must be to blame. But floating point errors I've encountered in other programming languages have been far smaller.

[daute]

No. The result is correct.
The result is given in 'scientific notation', the -1 at the end means: *10^-1

And the result is a normalized number - exactly one digit (<>0) before the comma.

Another example: 10000/3

(%i1) bfloat(10000/3);
(%o1                         3.333333333333333b3

for example is:
3333.333 = 3.3333...*10^3 (normalized)

Best regards, Wolfgang

(And this has nothing to do with wxMaxima, which is the graphical frontend for the Maxima project, which does the mathematics in the background.)

[Meep1000]

Thank you for politely answering my very noobish question. I really appreciate it.