select max(float) returns the wrong float

Selecting the max of a float value does something wonky with the precision of the value. I can't make sense of the below example.

{{MariaDB [imdb_small]> drop table example;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.006 sec)

MariaDB [imdb_small]> create table example (a float);
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.009 sec)

MariaDB [imdb_small]> insert into example values (8.7);
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.002 sec)

MariaDB [imdb_small]> select max(a) from example;
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1 row in set (0.000 sec)

MariaDB [imdb_small]> select a from example;
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1 row in set (0.000 sec)

MariaDB [imdb_small]> select * from example where a = 8.7;
Empty set (0.000 sec)}}