COMPUTER ORGANIZATION AND DESIGN

The Hardware/Software Interface

Chapter 3
Arithmetic for Computers
Arithmetic for Computers
 Operations on integers
 Addition and subtraction
 Multiplication and division
 Dealing with overflow
 Floating-point real numbers
 Representation and operations

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 2

Integer Addition
 Example: 7 + 6

 Overflow if result out of range

 Adding +ve and –ve operands, no overflow
 Adding two +ve operands
 Overflow if result sign is 1
 Adding two –ve operands
 Overflow if result sign is 0

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 3

Integer Subtraction
 Add negation of second operand
 Example: 7 – 6 = 7 + (–6)
+7: 0000 0000 … 0000 0111
–6: 1111 1111 … 1111 1010
+1: 0000 0000 … 0000 0001
 Overflow if result out of range
 Subtracting two +ve or two –ve operands, no overflow
 Subtracting +ve from –ve operand
 Overflow if result sign is 0
 Subtracting –ve from +ve operand
 Overflow if result sign is 1

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 4

Dealing with Overflow
 Some languages (e.g., C) ignore overflow
 Use MIPS addu, addui, subu instructions
 Other languages (e.g., Ada, Fortran)
require raising an exception
 Use MIPS add, addi, sub instructions
 On overflow, invoke exception handler
 Save PC in exception program counter (EPC)
register
 Jump to predefined handler address
 mfc0 (move from coprocessor reg) instruction can
retrieve EPC value, to return after corrective action

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 5

Arithmetic for Multimedia
 Graphics and media processing operates
on vectors of 8-bit and 16-bit data
 Use 64-bit adder, with partitioned carry chain
 Operate on 8×8-bit, 4×16-bit, or 2×32-bit vectors
 SIMD (single-instruction, multiple-data)
 Saturating operations
 On overflow, result is largest representable
value, i.e., the largest positive no. or the most
negative no. when overflow occurs.
 Saturation operation for media operations
 E.x. a volume knob
Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 6
 Multiplication
 Start with long-multiplication approach
multiplicand
1000
multiplier
× 1001
1000
0000
0000
1000
product 1001000

Length of product is
the sum of operand
lengths

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 7

Multiplication Hardware

Initially 0

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 8

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 9
FIGURE 3.6 Multiply example using algorithm in Figure 3.4. The bit
examined to determine the next step is circled in color.

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 10

Optimized Multiplier
 Perform steps in parallel: add/shift

Multiplier is initially
placed here

Shift product right 1

bit is equivalent to
shift left 1 bit of
multiplicand

 One cycle per partial-product addition

 That’s ok, if frequency of multiplications is low
Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 11
Faster Multiplier
 Uses multiple adders
 Cost/performance tradeoff

 Can be pipelined
 Several multiplication performed in parallel
Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 12
MIPS Multiplication
 Two 32-bit registers for product
 HI: most-significant 32 bits
 LO: least-significant 32-bits
 Instructions
 mult rs, rt / multu rs, rt
 64-bit product in HI/LO
 mfhi rd / mflo rd
 Move from HI/LO to rd
 Can test HI value to see if product overflows 32 bits
 mul rd, rs, rt
 Least-significant 32 bits of product –> rd

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 13

 §3.4 Division
Division
 Check for 0 divisor
 Long division approach
quotient  If divisor ≤ dividend bits
dividend  1 bit in quotient, subtract
1001  Otherwise
1000 1001010  0 bit in quotient, bring down next
-1000 dividend bit
divisor
10  Restoring division
101  Do the subtract, and if remainder
1010 goes < 0, add divisor back
-1000  Signed division
remainder 10
 Divide using absolute values
 Adjust sign of quotient and remainder
n-bit operands yield n-bit as required
quotient and remainder

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 14

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 15
Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 16
FIGURE 3.10 Division example using the algorithm in Figure 3.9. The bit
examined to determine the next step is circled in color.

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 17

Optimized Divider
Dividend initially
Remainder, Quotient

 One cycle per partial-remainder subtraction

 Looks a lot like a multiplier!
 Same hardware can be used for both

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 18

Faster Division
 Can’t use parallel hardware as in multiplier
 Subtraction is conditional on sign of remainder
 Faster dividers (e.g. SRT devision)
generate multiple quotient bits per step
 Still require multiple steps

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 19

MIPS Division
 Use HI/LO registers for result
 HI: 32-bit remainder
 LO: 32-bit quotient
 Instructions
 div rs, rt / divu rs, rt
 No overflow or divide-by-0 checking
 Software must perform checks if required
 Use mfhi, mflo to access result

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 20

Floating Point
 Representation for non-integral numbers
 Including very small and very large numbers
 Like scientific notation
 –2.34 × 1056 normalized

 +0.002 × 10–4 not normalized

 +987.02 × 109
 In binary
 ±1.xxxxxxx2 × 2yyyy
 Types float and double in C
Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 21
Floating Point Standard
 Defined by IEEE Std 754-1985
 Developed in response to divergence of
representations
 Portability issues for scientific code
 Now almost universally adopted
 Two representations
 Single precision (32-bit)
 Double precision (64-bit)

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 22

IEEE Floating-Point Format
single: 8 bits single: 23 bits
double: 11 bits double: 52 bits
S Exponent Fraction

x  ( 1)S  (1 Fraction)  2(Exponent Bias) View + as

a binary
 S: sign bit (0  non-negative, 1  negative) point .
 Normalize significand: 1.0 ≤ |significand| < 2.0
 Always has a leading pre-binary-point 1 bit, so no need to
represent it explicitly (hidden bit)
 Significand is Fraction with the “1.” restored
 Exponent: excess representation: actual exponent + Bias
 Ensures exponent is unsigned
 Single: Bias = 127; Double: Bias = 1203

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 23

Single-Precision Range
 Exponents 00000000 and 11111111 reserved
 Smallest value
 Exponent: 00000001
 actual exponent = 1 – 127 = –126
 Fraction: 000…00  significand = 1.0
 ±1.0 × 2–126 ≈ ±1.2 × 10–38
 Largest value
 exponent: 11111110
 actual exponent = 254 – 127 = +127
 Fraction: 111…11  significand ≈ 2.0
 ±2.0 × 2+127 ≈ ±3.4 × 10+38

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 24

Double-Precision Range
 Exponents 0000…00 and 1111…11 reserved
 Smallest value
 Exponent: 00000000001
 actual exponent = 1 – 1023 = –1022
 Fraction: 000…00  significand = 1.0
 ±1.0 × 2–1022 ≈ ±2.2 × 10–308
 Largest value
 Exponent: 11111111110
 actual exponent = 2046 – 1023 = +1023
 Fraction: 111…11  significand ≈ 2.0
 ±2.0 × 2+1023 ≈ ±1.8 × 10+308

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 25

Floating-Point Precision
 Relative precision
 all fraction bits are significant
 Single: approx 2–23
 Equivalent to 23 × log102 ≈ 23 × 0.3 ≈ 6 decimal
digits of precision
 Double: approx 2–52
 Equivalent to 52 × log102 ≈ 52 × 0.3 ≈ 16 decimal
digits of precision

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 26

Floating-Point Example
 Represent –0.75
 –0.75 = (–1)1 × 1.12 × 2–1
 S=1
 Fraction = 1000…002
 Exponent = –1 + Bias
 Single: –1 + 127 = 126 = 011111102
 Double: –1 + 1023 = 1022 = 011111111102
 Single: 1 01111110 1000…00
 Double: 1 01111111110 1000…00

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 27

Floating-Point Example
 What number is represented by the single-
precision float
1 10000001 01000…00
 S=1
 Fraction = 01000…002
 Fxponent = 100000012 = 129
 x = (–1)1 × (1 + 012) × 2(129 – 127)
= (–1) × 1.25 × 22
= –5.0

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 28

Floating-Point Addition
 Consider a 4-digit decimal example
 9.999 × 101 + 1.610 × 10–1
 1. Align decimal points
 Shift number with smaller exponent
 9.999 × 101 + 0.016 × 101
 2. Add significands
 9.999 × 101 + 0.016 × 101 = 10.015 × 101
 3. Normalize result & check for over/underflow
 1.0015 × 102
 4. Round and renormalize if necessary
 1.002 × 102

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 31

 Floating-Point Addition
 Now consider a 4-digit binary example
 1.0002 × 2–1 + –1.1102 × 2–2 (in decimal 0.5 + –0.4375)
 1. Align binary points
 Shift number with smaller exponent
 1.0002 × 2–1 + –0.1112 × 2–1
 2. Add significands
 1.0002 × 2–1 + –0.1112 × 2–1 = 0.0012 × 2–1
 3. Normalize result & check for over/underflow
 1.0002 × 2–4, with no over/underflow
 4. Round and renormalize if necessary
 1.0002 × 2–4 (no change) = 0.0625

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 32

FP Adder Hardware
 Much more complex than integer adder
 Doing it in one clock cycle would take too
long
 Much longer than integer operations
 Slower clock would penalize all instructions
 FP adder usually takes several cycles
 Can be pipelined

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 33

FP Adder Hardware

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 34

FP Arithmetic Hardware
 FP multiplier is of similar complexity to FP
adder
 But uses a multiplier for significands instead of
an adder
 FP arithmetic hardware usually does
 Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division,
reciprocal, square-root
 FP  integer conversion
 Operations usually takes several cycles
 Can be pipelined

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 37

Accurate Arithmetic
 IEEE Std 754 specifies additional rounding
control
 Extra bits of precision (guard, round, sticky)
 Choice of rounding modes
 Allows programmer to fine-tune numerical behavior of
a computation
 Not all FP units implement all options
 Most programming languages and FP libraries just
use defaults
 Trade-off between hardware complexity,
performance, and market requirements

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 38

Subword Parallellism
 Graphics and audio applications can take
advantage of performing simultaneous
operations on short vectors
 Example: 128-bit adder:
 Sixteen 8-bit adds
 Eight 16-bit adds
 Four 32-bit adds
 Also called data-level parallelism, vector
parallelism, or Single Instruction, Multiple
Data (SIMD)
Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 39
Associativity
 Parallel programs may interleave
operations in unexpected orders
 Assumptions of associativity may fail
(x+y)+z x+(y+z)
x -1.50E+38 -1.50E+38
y 1.50E+38 0.00E+00
z 1.0 1.0 1.50E+38
1.00E+00 0.00E+00

 Need to validate parallel programs under

varying degrees of parallelism
Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 40
Who Cares About FP Accuracy?
 Important for scientific code
 But for everyday consumer use?
 “My bank balance is out by 0.0002¢!” 
 The Intel Pentium FDIV bug
 The market expects accuracy
 See Colwell, The Pentium Chronicles

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 41

Concluding Remarks
 Bits have no inherent meaning
 Interpretation depends on the instructions
applied
 Computer representations of numbers
 Finite range and precision
 Need to account for this in programs

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 42

Concluding Remarks
 ISAs support arithmetic
 Signed and unsigned integers
 Floating-point approximation to reals
 Bounded range and precision
 Operations can overflow and underflow
 MIPS ISA
 Core instructions: 54 most frequently used
 100% of SPECINT, 97% of SPECFP
 Other instructions: less frequent

Chapter 3 — Arithmetic for Computers — 43