What is the typical base used for scaling in floating-point representation?

The typical base used for scaling in floating-point representation is 2, 8, or 16 because these are the bases corresponding to binary, octal, and hexadecimal number systems, respectively.

In floating-point representation, the number is expressed in a form similar to scientific notation, but in base 2. The use of base 2 is fundamental in computer systems, as they operate using binary numbers. However, other bases like 8 and 16 are also common for different types of programming and data representation purposes.

For instance, base 16 (hexadecimal) is often used in programming for its compact representation of binary data, where each hex digit represents four binary digits. Base 8 (octal) is less common but sometimes used in specific applications and older computing methods.

The other bases mentioned in the other options do not typically apply to floating-point representation in computing. Bases like 10, 12, or 14 are not standard in this context, and the values specified in the other choices do not fit into the fundamental principles of computer architecture that use powers of 2 for floating-point arithmetic.