title: How can I assign a float variable to an unsigned int variable, bit image, not cast
body: <p>I know this is a bizarre thing to do, and it's not portable.  But I have an allocated array of unsigned ints, and I occasionaly want to "store" a float in it.  I don't want to cast the float or convert it to the closest equivalent int; I want to store the exact bit image of the float in the allocated space of the unsigned int, such that I could later retrieve it as a float and it would retain its original float value.</p>