Hi atomician,
Float here is any single number (vs. Vector or Matrix). You can "pipe" in, even Boolean values. Think of it as a family name used in Cinema 4D for numbers. Internally, it is changed to a "real" float.
The User Data interface might provide a good hint at how it is used. Float the group name, units for the evaluation what the input is.
The term Float is used (for example) for image formats, like the industry standard OpenEXR, whereby the numbers used here are exponential numbers, but also with such formats, no image or compositing app to my knowledge requires placing exponential formatting into the parameter fields to even change a single pixel.
The input in Cinema 4D is anything when set to float, single parameter for Real, or three for Vector, or 12 for Matrix. Each time it accepts Real, integer, or even other number-based data (Again, Boolean, 0 or 1 for false or true). So, I can't even see remotely a limitation here.
Example:
CV4_2025_drs_25_XPpn_02.c4d
Here is the manual: Float is not listed, just real
https://help.maxon.net/c4d/2025/en-us/Default.htm#html/5829.html?TocPath=XPresso%257CXPresso%2520Editor%257C_____0
You can report anything you like to Maxon, but you are the first in a few decades you ask me that. I do not see that this would trigger a change through the application; all documentation and the change would require recording all tutorials that newly use this term in the way it was used. Changing it now might be a very confusing change, given the tens of thousands of YouTube tutorials that might have it somewhere. I consider this an app-wide agreed understanding since the '90s. Yes, float as a term might be misleading, but when you set up a variable in Python, the first value provided defines the Variable, no labels needed.
All the best
