#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int
f2i (float f)
{
  return *((int *) &f);
} // f2i

int
exponent (float f)
{
  int i = (f2i (f) >> 23) & 255;
  return i - 127;
} // exponent

int 
main (int argc, char *argv[])
{
  float f = atof (argv[1]);

  printf ("For float %f, the exponent is %d.\n", f, exponent (f));

  return EXIT_SUCCESS;
} // main