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Floating Point
15-213/18-213/15-513: Introduction to Computer Systems
4th Lecture, June 1, 2021

Bryant and O’Hallaron, Computer Systems: A Programmer’s Perspective, Third Edition

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Today: Floating Point

 Background: Fractional binary numbers
 IEEE floating point standard: Definition
 Example and properties
 Rounding, addition, multiplication
 Floating point in C
 Summary

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Fractional binary numbers

 What is 1011.1012?

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Fractional Binary Numbers

2i
2i-1

4
••• 2
1

bi bi-1 ••• b2 b1 b0 b-1 b-2 b-3 ••• b-j

1/2
1/4 •••
1/8

 Representation 2-j
▪ Bits to right of “binary point” represent fractional powers of 2
▪ Represents rational number:

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Fractional Binary Numbers: Examples

 Value Representation
5 3/4 = 23/4 101.112 = 4 + 1 + 1/2 + 1/4
2 7/8 = 23/8 010.1112 = 2 + 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8
1 7/16 = 23/16 001.01112 = 1 + 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/16

 Observations
▪ Divide by 2 by shifting right (unsigned)
▪ Multiply by 2 by shifting left
▪ Numbers of form 0.111111…2 are just below 1.0
▪ 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + … + 1/2i + … ➙ 1.0
▪ Use notation 1.0 – ε

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Representable Numbers
 Limitation #1
▪ Can only exactly represent numbers of the form x/2k
▪ Other rational numbers have repeating bit representations
▪ Value Representation
▪ 1/3 0.0101010101[01]…2
▪ 1/5 0.001100110011[0011]…2
▪ 1/10 0.0001100110011[0011]…2

 Limitation #2
▪ Just one setting of binary point within the w bits
▪ Limited range of numbers (very small values? very large?)

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Today: Floating Point

 Background: Fractional binary numbers
 IEEE floating point standard: Definition
 Example and properties
 Rounding, addition, multiplication
 Floating point in C
 Summary

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IEEE Floating Point

 IEEE Standard 754
▪ Established in 1985 as uniform standard for floating point arithmetic
Before that, many idiosyncratic formats
▪
▪ Supported by all major CPUs
▪ Some CPUs don’t implement IEEE 754 in full
e.g., early GPUs, Cell BE processor

 Driven by numerical concerns

▪ Nice standards for rounding, overflow, underflow
▪ Hard to make fast in hardware
▪ Numerical analysts predominated over hardware designers
in defining standard

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This is important!
 Ariane 5 explodes on maiden voyage: $500 MILLION dollars lost
▪ 64-bit floating point number assigned to 16-bit integer
▪ Causes rocket to get incorrect value of horizontal velocity and crash

 Patriot Missile defense system misses scud – 28 people die

▪ System tracks time in tenths of second
▪ Converted from integer to floating point number.
▪ Accumulated rounding error causes drift. 20% drift over 8 hours.
▪ Eventually (on 2/25/1991 system was on for 100 hours) causes range mis-
estimation sufficiently large to miss incoming missiles.

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Floating Point Representation

Example:
 Numerical Form: 1521310 = (-1)0 x 1.11011011011012 x 213

(–1)s M 2E
▪ Sign bit s determines whether number is negative or positive
▪ Significand M normally a fractional value in range [1.0,2.0).
▪ Exponent E weights value by power of two

 Encoding
▪ MSB s is sign bit s
▪ exp field encodes E (but is not equal to E)
▪ frac field encodes M (but is not equal to M)

s exp frac

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Precision options
 Single precision: 32 bits
 7 decimal digits, 10±38
s exp frac
1 8-bits 23-bits

 Double precision: 64 bits

 16 decimal digits, 10±308
s exp frac
1 11-bits 52-bits

 Other formats: half precision, quad precision

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Three “kinds” of floating point numbers

s exp frac
1 e-bits f-bits

00…00 exp ≠ 0 and exp ≠ 11…11 11…11

denormalized normalized special

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“Normalized” Values v = (–1)s M 2E

 When: exp ≠ 000…0 and exp ≠ 111…1

 Exponent coded as a biased value: E = exp – Bias

▪ exp: unsigned value of exp field
▪ Bias = 2k-1 - 1, where k is number of exponent bits
▪ Single precision: 127 (exp: 1…254, E: -126…127)
▪ Double precision: 1023 (exp: 1…2046, E: -1022…1023)

 Significand coded with implied leading 1: M = 1.xxx…x2

▪ xxx…x: bits of frac field
▪ Minimum when frac=000…0 (M = 1.0)
▪ Maximum when frac=111…1 (M = 2.0 – ε)
▪ Get extra leading bit for “free”
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Normalized Encoding Example v = (–1)s M 2E

E = exp – Bias
 Value: float F = 15213.0;
▪ 1521310 = 111011011011012
= 1.11011011011012 x 213

 Significand
M = 1.11011011011012
frac = 110110110110100000000002

 Exponent
E = 13
Bias = 127
exp = 140 = 100011002

 Result:

0 10001100 11011011011010000000000
s exp frac
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Denormalized Values v = (–1)s M 2E

E = 1 – Bias
 Condition: exp = 000…0

 Exponent value: E = 1 – Bias (instead of exp – Bias) (why?)

 Significand coded with implied leading 0: M = 0.xxx…x2
▪ xxx…x: bits of frac
 Cases
▪ exp = 000…0, frac = 000…0
Represents zero value
▪
▪ Note distinct values: +0 and –0 (why?)
▪ exp = 000…0, frac ≠ 000…0
▪ Numbers closest to 0.0
▪ Equispaced

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Special Values
 Condition: exp = 111…1

 Case: exp = 111…1, frac = 000…0

▪ Represents value  (infinity)
▪ Operation that overflows
▪ Both positive and negative
▪ E.g., 1.0/0.0 = −1.0/−0.0 = +, 1.0/−0.0 = −

 Case: exp = 111…1, frac ≠ 000…0

▪ Not-a-Number (NaN)
▪ Represents case when no numeric value can be determined
▪ E.g., sqrt(–1),  − ,   0

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C float Decoding Example v = (–1)s M 2E

E = exp – Bias
float: 0xC0A00000
Bias = 2k-1 – 1 = 127
binary:

1 8-bits 23-bits

E = 129
S = 1 -> negative number
M = 1.010 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
M = 1 + 1/4 = 1.25

v = (–1)s M 2E =

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C float Decoding Example #1 v = (–1)s M 2E

E = exp – Bias
float: 0xC0A00000
binary: 1100 0000 1010 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000

1 1000 0001 010 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000

1 8-bits 23-bits

E = 129
S = 1 -> negative number
M = 1.010 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
M = 1 + 1/4 = 1.25

v = (–1)s M 2E =

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C float Decoding Example #1 v = (–1)s M 2E

E = exp – Bias
float: 0xC0A00000
Bias = 2k-1 – 1 = 127
binary: 1100 0000 1010 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000

1 1000 0001 010 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000

1 8-bits 23-bits

E = exp – Bias = 129 – 127 = 2 (decimal)

S = 1 -> negative number
M = 1.010 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
M = 1 + 1/4 = 1.25

v = (–1)s M 2E = (-1)1 * 1.25 * 22 = -5

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C float Decoding Example #2 v = (–1)s M 2E

E = 1 – Bias
float: 0x001C0000
binary: 0000 0000 0001 1100 0000 0000 0000 0000

0 0000 0000 001 1100 0000 0000 0000 0000

1 8-bits 23-bits

E = 129
S = 1 -> negative number
M = 0.010 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
M = 1 + 1/4 = 1.25

v = (–1)s M 2E =

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C float Decoding Example #2 v = (–1)s M 2E

E = 1 – Bias
float: 0x001C0000
Bias = 2k-1 – 1 = 127
binary: 0000 0000 0001 1100 0000 0000 0000 0000

0 0000 0000 001 1100 0000 0000 0000 0000

1 8-bits 23-bits

E = 1 – Bias = 1 – 127 = –126 (decimal)

S = 0 -> positive number
M = 0.001 1100 0000 0000 0000 0000
M = 1/8 + 1/16 + 1/32 = 7/32 = 7*2–5

v = (–1)s M 2E = (-1)0 * 7*2–5 * 2–126 = 7*2–131

v ≈ 2.571393892 X 10–39
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Visualization: Floating Point Encodings

− +
−Normalized −Denorm +Denorm +Normalized

NaN NaN
−0 +0

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Today: Floating Point

 Background: Fractional binary numbers
 IEEE floating point standard: Definition

 Example and properties

 Rounding, addition, multiplication

 Floating point in C

 Summary

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Tiny Floating Point Example

s exp frac
1 4-bits 3-bits

 8-bit Floating Point Representation

▪ the sign bit is in the most significant bit
▪ the next four bits are the exp, with a bias of 7
▪ the last three bits are the frac

 Same general form as IEEE Format

▪ normalized, denormalized
▪ representation of 0, NaN, infinity

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v = (–1)s M 2E
Dynamic Range (s=0 only) norm: E = exp – Bias
s exp frac E Value
denorm: E = 1 – Bias
0 0000 000 -6 0
0 0000 001 -6 1/8*1/64 = 1/512 closest to zero
Denormalized 0 0000 010 -6 2/8*1/64 = 2/512 (-1)0(0+1/4)*2-6
numbers …
0 0000 110 -6 6/8*1/64 = 6/512
0 0000 111 -6 7/8*1/64 = 7/512 largest denorm
0 0001 000 -6 8/8*1/64 = 8/512 smallest norm
0 0001 001 -6 9/8*1/64 = 9/512 (-1)0(1+1/8)*2-6
…
0 0110 110 -1 14/8*1/2 = 14/16
0 0110 111 -1 15/8*1/2 = 15/16 closest to 1 below
Normalized 0 0111 000 0 8/8*1 = 1
numbers 0 0111 001 0 9/8*1 = 9/8 closest to 1 above
0 0111 010 0 10/8*1 = 10/8
…
0 1110 110 7 14/8*128 = 224
0 1110 111 7 15/8*128 = 240 largest norm
0 1111 000 n/a inf

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Distribution of Values
 6-bit IEEE-like format
▪ e = 3 exponent bits
▪ f = 2 fraction bits s exp frac
▪ Bias is 23-1-1 = 3 1 3-bits 2-bits

 Notice how the distribution gets denser toward zero.

8 values

-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15
Denormalized Normalized Infinity

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Distribution of Values (close-up view)

 6-bit IEEE-like format
▪ e = 3 exponent bits
▪ f = 2 fraction bits s exp frac
▪ Bias is 3 1 3-bits 2-bits

-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
Denormalized Normalized Infinity

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Special Properties of the IEEE Encoding

 FP Zero Same as Integer Zero
▪ All bits = 0

 Can (Almost) Use Unsigned Integer Comparison

▪ Must first compare sign bits
▪ Must consider −0 = 0
▪ NaNs problematic
Will be greater than any other values
▪
▪ What should comparison yield? The answer is complicated.
▪ Otherwise OK
▪ Denorm vs. normalized
▪ Normalized vs. infinity

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Quiz Time!

Check out:

https://canvas.cmu.edu/courses/16836

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Today: Floating Point

 Background: Fractional binary numbers
 IEEE floating point standard: Definition
 Example and properties
 Rounding, addition, multiplication
 Floating point in C
 Summary

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Floating Point Operations: Basic Idea

 x +f y = Round(x + y)

 x f y = Round(x  y)

 Basic idea
▪ First compute exact result
▪ Make it fit into desired precision
▪ Possibly overflow if exponent too large
▪ Possibly round to fit into frac

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Rounding
 Rounding Modes (illustrate with $ rounding)

$1.40 $1.60 $1.50 $2.50 –$1.50

▪ Towards zero $1 $1 $1 $2 –$1
▪ Round down (−) $1 $1 $1 $2 –$2
▪ Round up (+) $2 $2 $2 $3 –$1
▪ Nearest Even* (default) $1 $2 $2 $2 –$2

*Round to nearest, but if half-way in-between then round to nearest even

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Closer Look at Round-To-Even

 Default Rounding Mode
▪ Hard to get any other kind without dropping into assembly
C99 has support for rounding mode management
▪
▪ All others are statistically biased
▪ Sum of set of positive numbers will consistently be over- or under-
estimated
 Applying to Other Decimal Places / Bit Positions
▪ When exactly halfway between two possible values
Round so that least significant digit is even
▪
▪ E.g., round to nearest hundredth
7.8949999 7.89 (Less than half way)
7.8950001 7.90 (Greater than half way)
7.8950000 7.90 (Half way—round up)
7.8850000 7.88 (Half way—round down)
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Rounding Binary Numbers

 Binary Fractional Numbers
▪ “Even” when least significant bit is 0
▪ “Half way” when bits to right of rounding position = 100…2

 Examples
▪ Round to nearest 1/4 (2 bits right of binary point)
Value Binary Rounded Action Rounded Value
2 3/32 10.000112 10.002 (<1/2—down) 2
2 3/16 10.001102 10.012 (>1/2—up) 2 1/4
2 7/8 10.111002 11.002 ( 1/2—up) 3
2 5/8 10.101002 10.102 ( 1/2—down) 2 1/2

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Rounding 1.BBGRXXX
Guard bit: LSB of result
Sticky bit: OR of remaining bits
Round bit: 1st bit removed

 Round up conditions
▪ Round = 1, Sticky = 1 ➙ > 0.5
▪ Guard = 1, Round = 1, Sticky = 0 ➙ Round to even
Fraction GRS Incr? Rounded
1.0000000 000 N 1.000
1.1010000 100 N 1.101
1.0001000 010 N 1.000
1.0011000 110 Y 1.010
1.0001010 011 Y 1.001
1.1111100 111 Y 10.000

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FP Multiplication
 (–1)s1 M1 2E1 x (–1)s2 M2 2E2
 Exact Result: (–1)s M 2E
▪ Sign s: s1 ^ s2
▪ Significand M: M1 x M2
▪ Exponent E: E1 + E2
 Fixing
▪ If M ≥ 2, shift M right, increment E
▪ If E out of range, overflow
▪ Round M to fit frac precision
 Implementation
▪ Biggest chore is multiplying significands

4 bit significand: 1.010*22 x 1.110*23 = 10.0011*25

= 1.00011*26 = 1.001*26
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Floating Point Addition

 (–1)s1 M1 2E1 + (-1)s2 M2 2E2
▪Assume E1 > E2 Get binary points lined up
 Exact Result: (–1)s M 2E E1–E2
▪Sign s, significand M: (–1)s1 M1
Result of signed align & add
▪
▪Exponent E: E1 + (–1)s2 M2
 Fixing
▪If M ≥ 2, shift M right, increment E (–1)s M
▪if M < 1, shift M left k positions, decrement E by k
▪Overflow if E out of range
▪Round M to fit frac precision

1.010*22 + 1.110*23 = (0.1010 + 1.1100)*23

= 10.0110 * 23 = 1.00110 * 24 = 1.010 * 24
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Mathematical Properties of FP Add

 Compare to those of Abelian Group
▪ Closed under addition? Yes
But may generate infinity or NaN
▪
▪ Commutative? Yes
▪ Associative? No
▪ Overflow and inexactness of rounding
▪ (3.14+1e10)-1e10 = 0, 3.14+(1e10-1e10) = 3.14
▪ 0 is additive identity? Yes
▪ Every element has additive inverse? Almost
▪ Yes, except for infinities & NaNs
 Monotonicity
▪ a ≥ b ⇒ a+c ≥ b+c? Almost
▪ Except for infinities & NaNs

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Mathematical Properties of FP Mult

 Compare to Commutative Ring
▪ Closed under multiplication? Yes
▪ But may generate infinity or NaN
▪ Multiplication Commutative? Yes
▪ Multiplication is Associative? No
▪ Possibility of overflow, inexactness of rounding
▪ Ex: (1e20*1e20)*1e-20= inf, 1e20*(1e20*1e-20)= 1e20
▪ 1 is multiplicative identity? Yes
▪ Multiplication distributes over addition? No
▪ Possibility of overflow, inexactness of rounding
▪ 1e20*(1e20-1e20)= 0.0, 1e20*1e20 – 1e20*1e20 = NaN

 Monotonicity
▪ a ≥ b & c ≥ 0 ⇒ a * c ≥ b *c? Almost
▪ Except for infinities & NaNs
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Today: Floating Point

 Background: Fractional binary numbers
 IEEE floating point standard: Definition
 Example and properties
 Rounding, addition, multiplication
 Floating point in C
 Summary

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Floating Point in C
 C Guarantees Two Levels
▪ float single precision
▪ double double precision

 Conversions/Casting
▪ Casting between int, float, and double changes bit representation
▪ double/float → int
Truncates fractional part
▪
▪ Like rounding toward zero
▪ Not defined when out of range or NaN: Generally sets to TMin
▪ int → double
▪ Exact conversion, as long as int has ≤ 53 bit word size
▪ int → float
▪ Will round according to rounding mode

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Floating Point Puzzles

 For each of the following C expressions, either:
▪ Argue that it is true for all argument values
▪ Explain why not true
• x == (int)(float) x
• x == (int)(double) x
• f == (float)(double) f
int x = …;
float f = …; • d == (double)(float) d
double d = …; • f == -(-f);
• 2/3 == 2/3.0
Assume neither • d < 0.0 ⇒ ((d*2) < 0.0)
d nor f is NaN • d > f ⇒ -f > -d
• d * d >= 0.0
• (d+f)-d == f

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Summary
 IEEE Floating Point has clear mathematical properties
 Represents numbers of form M x 2E
 One can reason about operations independent of
implementation
▪ As if computed with perfect precision and then rounded
 Not the same as real arithmetic
▪ Violates associativity/distributivity
▪ Makes life difficult for compilers & serious numerical applications
programmers

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Additional Slides

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Creating Floating Point Number

 Steps s exp frac
▪ Normalize to have leading 1
1 4-bits 3-bits
▪ Round to fit within fraction
▪ Postnormalize to deal with effects of rounding

 Case Study
▪ Convert 8-bit unsigned numbers to tiny floating point format
Example Numbers
128 10000000
15 00001101
33 00010001
35 00010011
138 10001010
63 00111111
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Normalize s exp frac

1 4-bits 3-bits
 Requirement
▪ Set binary point so that numbers of form 1.xxxxx
▪ Adjust all to have leading one
Decrement exponent as shift left
▪
Value Binary Fraction Exponent
128 10000000 1.0000000 7
15 00001101 1.1010000 3
17 00010001 1.0001000 4
19 00010011 1.0011000 4
138 10001010 1.0001010 7
63 00111111 1.1111100 5

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Postnormalize
 Issue
▪ Rounding may have caused overflow
▪ Handle by shifting right once & incrementing exponent
Value Rounded Exp Adjusted Numeric Result
128 1.000 7 128
15 1.101 3 15
17 1.000 4 16
19 1.010 4 20
138 1.001 7 134
63 10.000 5 1.000/6 64

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Interesting Numbers {single,double}

Description exp frac Numeric Value
 Zero 00…00 00…00 0.0
 Smallest Pos. Denorm. 00…00 00…01 2– {23,52} x 2– {126,1022}
▪ Single ≈ 1.4 x 10–45
▪ Double ≈ 4.9 x 10–324
 Largest Denormalized 00…00 11…11 (1.0 – ε) x 2– {126,1022}
▪ Single ≈ 1.18 x 10–38
▪ Double ≈ 2.2 x 10–308
 Smallest Pos. Normalized 00…01 00…00 1.0 x 2– {126,1022}
▪ Just larger than largest denormalized
 One 01…11 00…00 1.0
 Largest Normalized 11…10 11…11 (2.0 – ε) x 2{127,1023}
▪ Single ≈ 3.4 x 1038
▪ Double ≈ 1.8 x 10308

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