why does std::numeric_limits

I got a weird behaviour with

 std::numeric_limits<float>::min()

when I call std::cout I get an output value of 1.17549e-38

in contrast when I use

printf("%f", std::numeric_limits<float>::min());

I get a value of 0.000000.

note that when I evaluate (std::numeric_limits::min() == std::numeric_limits::min()) I get true (which is intuitive and logical)

so, can any one explain to me this difference in output?