Quadratic Equation Solver! Procedures!

Of course, we know that the solutions of the equation ax 2 + bx + c = 0

can be found by using the formula

− b ± b 2 − 4ac
2a
And, we can also determine that there are no real solutions of the equation if the value of
the discriminant is negative:

b 2 − 4ac

Consider implementing a MIPS program to solve quadratic equations:

- it should allow the user to specify the coefficients
- the coefficients and solutions will be decimal values (not integers)
- the solver should detect the case there are no solutions

This is a good excuse to examine the floating-point facilities available for MIPS
programmers.

Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2006! Intro Computer Organization! ©2006 McQuain & Ribbens!
MIPS Floating-Point Architecture! Procedures! 2

MIPS includes two coprocessors that support specialized execution features. One is
dedicated to computations involving floating-point values:

- 32 registers to store 32-bit (single

precision) floating-point values in
IEEE 754 format
- support for "coupling" pairs of
registers to store 64-bit (double
precision) floating-point values in
IEEE 754 format
- a floating-point ALU

Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2006! Intro Computer Organization! ©2006 McQuain & Ribbens!
Selected MIPS Floating-Point Instructions! Procedures! 3

MIPS assembly includes an impressive collection of instructions for performing

computations with floating-point values; the latest release of SPIM supports most of them.

.float
.double directives for declaring 32- and 64-bit floating-point data

lwc1 load single from memory to FP register (aka l.s)

ldc1 load double from memory to FP register (note the pattern)
swc1 store single from FP register to memory (aka s.s)
sdc1 store double from FP register to memory

add.[s|d] add single|double values

mul.[s|d] multiple single|double values
sub.[s|d] subtract single|double values
div.[s|d] divide single|double values
neg.[s|d] negate single|double value

sqrt.[s|d] compute the non-negative square root of the argument

Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2006! Intro Computer Organization! ©2006 McQuain & Ribbens!
Selected MIPS Floating-Point Instructions! Procedures! 4

There are also many instructions for conversion, comparison and branching. Here is a
sampling of the single-precision instructions; each has a double-precision analog.

cvt.s.d convert double to single

cvt.s.w convert fixed-point or integer to single

c.eq.s set coprocessor flag according to result of comparison

c.lt.s
c.le.s

bc1[t|f] branch to address if coprocessor flag is true|false

The MIPS Architecture for Programmers, Volume II is an excellent reference for the
complete MIPS instruction set.

Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2006! Intro Computer Organization! ©2006 McQuain & Ribbens!
Quadratic Solver Design! Procedures! 5

A few things are obvious:

- the solver must receive the three coefficients as parameters
- the solver must be able to indicate to the caller that there are no solutions
- otherwise, the solver must return two solutions (possibly equal) to the caller

The following implementation is based upon these decisions:

- the coefficients will be passed via the stack
- the error code will be communicated via register $v0
- the solutions, if any, will be placed into the registers $f11 and $f12
- the solver will use single-precision numbers

When the solver begins execution, the stack will be in the following logical state:

a
b
sp c
...

Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2006! Intro Computer Organization! ©2006 McQuain & Ribbens!
Quadratic Solver Call! Procedures! 6
################################################################ main
main:

addi $sp, $sp, -12 # reserve stack space for the

# coefficients

la $a0, prmpt1 # get coefficient of x^2

jal get_coefficient
s.s $f0, 8($sp) # put it on the stack

la $a0, prmpt2 # get coefficient of x

jal get_coefficient
s.s $f0, 4($sp) # put it on the stack

la $a0, prmpt3 # get constant term

jal get_coefficient
s.s $f0, 0($sp) # put it on the stack

jal quad_solver # call the quadratic eq'n solver

beq $v0, $zero, OK # check exit code from solver

Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2006! Intro Computer Organization! ©2006 McQuain & Ribbens!
Quadratic Solver! Procedures! 7
########################################################### quad_solver
quad_solver:
.data
two: .word 2
four: .word 4
.text

l.s $f0, 8($sp) # retrieve coeffs from stack

l.s $f1, 4($sp)
l.s $f2, 0($sp)
li $v0, 0 # default to success
# calculate discriminant
mul.s $f8, $f1, $f1 # f8 = B^2
mul.s $f9, $f0, $f2 # f9 = A*C
l.s $f5, four
cvt.s.w $f5, $f5 # f5 = 4.0
mul.s $f9, $f9, $f5 # f9 = 4*A*C

# test discriminant
c.lt.s $f8, $f9 # is B^2 < 4*A*C?
bc1f isOK # if not, compute solutions
li $v0, 1 # else, set error code
jr $ra # and quit

# ... continues ...

Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2006! Intro Computer Organization! ©2006 McQuain & Ribbens!
Quadratic Solver! Procedures! 8
# OK, compute solutions
isOK:
neg.s $f9, $f9 # f9 = -4*A*C
add.s $f9, $f8, $f9 # f9 = B^2 - 4*A*C
sqrt.s $f9, $f9 # f9 = sqrt(B^2 - 4*A*C)
mov.s $f7, $f1
neg.s $f7, $f7 # f7 = -B
l.s $f5, two
cvt.s.w $f5, $f5
mul.s $f8, $f5, $f0 # f8 = 2*A
add.s $f10, $f7, $f9
div.s $f10, $f10, $f8 # f10 = one root
neg.s $f9, $f9
add.s $f11, $f7, $f9
div.s $f11, $f11, $f8 # f11 = other root

jr $ra
######################################################## end quad_solver

Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2006! Intro Computer Organization! ©2006 McQuain & Ribbens!
get_coefficient! Procedures! 9
######################################################## get_coefficient
# Prompt the user to enter an integer value. Read and return
# it. It takes the address of the prompt as its only parameter.
get_coefficient:

li $v0, 4 # system call code for printing a string = 4

syscall # call operating system to perform
# print operation

li $v0, 6 # system call code for reading a float = 6

syscall # system waits for input, puts the
# value in $f0

jr $ra
#################################################### end get_coefficient

Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2006! Intro Computer Organization! ©2006 McQuain & Ribbens!
Leaf vs Non-leaf Procedures! Procedures! 10

So far we have only considered leaf procedures, that is, procedures that do not make calls
themselves.

Non-leaf procedures must save their return address before executing a jal, and then
restore that value before executing a return. For example:

######################################################### get_quadratic
get_quadratic:
addi $sp, $sp, -4 # preserve return address on the stack
sw $ra, ($sp)

la $a0, prmpt1 # get coefficient of x^2

jal get_coefficient
s.s $f0, 12($sp) # put it on the stack

#. . . get and save the other coefficients

lw $ra, ($sp) # restore the return address

addi $sp, $sp, 4
jr $ra
###################################################### end get_quadratic

Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2006! Intro Computer Organization! ©2006 McQuain & Ribbens!