 <em>arbitrarily high
  precision</em> by using the <tt>bfloat</tt> function:

<pre>
(%i5)&nbsp;bfloat&nbsp;(%o3);
(%o5)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8.201219330881976b1

</pre>
The number of significant figures displayed is controlled by the
Maxima variable <tt>fpprec</tt>, which has the default value of 16:

<pre>
(%i6)&nbsp;fpprec;
(%o6)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&n