Floating-Point Arithmetic.pptVIP

Floating-Point Arithmetic What is the problem? Many numeric applications require numbers over a VERY large range. (e.g. nanoseconds to centuries) Most scientific applications require real numbers (e.g. ?) But so far we only have integers. We *COULD* implement the fractions explicitly (e.g. ?, 1023/102934) We *COULD* use bigger integers Floating point is a better answer for most applications. Recall Scientific Notation Let’s start our discussion of floating point by recalling scientific notation from high school Numbers represented in parts: 42 = 4.200 x 101 1024 = 1.024 x 103 -0.0625 = -6.250 x 10-2 Arithmetic is done in pieces 1024 1.024 x 103 - 42 - 0.042 x 103 982 0.982 x 103 9.820 x 102 Multiplication in Scientific Notation Is straightforward: Multiply together the significant parts Add the exponents Normalize if required Examples: 1024 1.024 x 103 x 0.0625 6.250 x 10-2 64 6.400 x 101 42 4.200 x 101 x 0.0625 6.250 x 10-2 2.625 26.250 x 10-1 2.625 x 100 (Normalized) FP == “Binary” Scientific Notation IEEE single precision floating-point format 0in hexadecimal Exponent: Unsigned “Bias 127” 8-bit integer E = Exponent + 127  Exponent =(132) – 127 = 5 Significand: Unsigned fixed binary point with “hidden-one” Significand = “1”+ 0.01010000000000000000000 = 1.3125 Putting it all together N = -1S (1 + F ) x 2E-127 = -10 (1.3125) x 25 = 42 Example Numbers One Sign = +, Exponent = 0, Significand = 1.0 -10 (1 .0) x 20 = 1 S = 0, E = 0 + 127, F = 1.0 – ‘1’ 0 00000000000000000000000 0x3f800000 One-half Sign = +, Exponent = -1, Significand = 1.0  -10 (1 .0) x 2-1 = ? S = 0, E = -1 + 127, F = 1.0 – ‘1’ 0 00000000000000000000000 0x3f000000 Minus Two Sign = -, Exponent = 1, Significand = 1.0 1 00000000000000000000000