title: What is the meaning of unsigned u = *(unsigned*)&x; in c++ where x is a float variable?
body: <p>Since my Numerical Analysis course exam is near, I was searching for a implementation code to to represent floating point numbers in C/C++? Then I found a line from one the codes in github. Can you please tell me, what is the meaning of the second line in the code snippet below, and how and why this is important?</p>
  <pre><code>float x = ...;
  unsigned u = *(unsigned*)&amp;x; 
  </code></pre>