An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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The fractional or the decimal part of a → common logarithm. For example, log₁₀ 4000 = 3.602, where the → characteristic is 3 and the mantissa 0.602.

From L. mantis "makeweight, addition," of unknown origin. Introduced by Henry Briggs (1561-1630).

→ makeweight.