Floating Point Numbers

Real Numbers: pi = 3.14159265... e = 2.71828...

Scientific Notation: has a single digit to the left of the decimal point.
A number in Scientific Notation with no leading 0s is called a Normalised Number: 1.0 × 10-8
Not in normalised form: 0.1 × 10-7 or 10.0 × 10-9
Can also represent binary numbers in scientific notation: 1.0 × 2-3
Computer arithmetic that supports such numbers is called Floating Point.
The form is 1.xxxx… × 2yy…
Using normalised scientific notation
1. Simplifies the exchange of data that includes floating-point numbers
2. Simplifies the arithmetic algorithms to know that the numbers will always be in this form
3. Increases the accuracy of the numbers that can be stored in a word, since each unnecessary
leading 0 is replaced by another significant digit to the right of the decimal point
Representation of Floating-Point numbers
-1S × M × 2E
Bit No Size Field Name
31 1 bit Sign (S)
23-30 8 bits Exponent (E)
0-22 23 bits Mantissa (M)
A Single-Precision floating-point number occupies 32-bits, so there is a compromise between the
size of the mantissa and the size of the exponent.
These chosen sizes provide a range of approx:
± 10-38 ... 1038
 Overflow
The exponent is too large to be represented in the Exponent field
 Underflow
The number is too small to be represented in the Exponent field
To reduce the chances of underflow/overflow, can use 64-bit Double-Precision arithmetic
Bit No Size Field Name
63 1 bit Sign (S)
52-62 11 bits Exponent (E)
0-51 52 bits Mantissa (M)
providing a range of approx
± 10-308 ... 10308
These formats are called ...
IEEE 754 Floating-Point Standard
Since the mantissa is always 1.xxxxxxxxx in the normalised form, no need to represent the leading 1.
So, effectively:
Single Precision: mantissa ===> 1 bit + 23 bits
Double Precision: mantissa ===> 1 bit + 52 bits
Since zero (0.0) has no leading 1, to distinguish it from others, it is given the reserved bit pattern all
0s for the exponent so that hardware won't attach a leading 1 to it. Thus:
 Zero (0.0) = 0000...0000
 Other numbers = -1S × (1 + Mantissa) × 2E
If we number the mantissa bits from left to right m1, m2, m3, ...
mantissa = m1 × 2-1 + m2 × 2-2 + m3 × 2-3 + ....
Negative exponents could pose a problem in comparisons.
For example (with two's complement):
 Sign Exponent Mantissa
-1
1.0 × 2 0 11111111 0000000 00000000 00000000
+1
1.0 × 2 0 00000001 0000000 00000000 00000000
With this representation, the first exponent shows a "larger" binary number, making direct
comparison more difficult.
To avoid this, Biased Notation is used for exponents.
If the real exponent of a number is X then it is represented as (X + bias)
IEEE single-precision uses a bias of 127. Therefore, an exponent of
-1 is represented as -1 + 127 = 126 = 011111102
0 is represented as 0 + 127 = 127 = 011111112
+1 is represented as +1 + 127 = 128 = 100000002
+5 is represented as +5 + 127 = 132 = 100001002
So the actual exponent is found by subtracting the bias from the stored exponent. Therefore, given
S, E, and M fields, an IEEE floating-point number has the value:
-1S × (1.0 + 0.M) × 2E-bias
(Remember: it is (1.0 + 0.M) because, with normalised form, only the fractional part of the mantissa
needs to be stored)

Floating Point Addition

Add the following two decimal numbers in scientific notation:
8.70 × 10-1 with 9.95 × 101
1. Rewrite the smaller number such that its exponent matches with the exponent of the larger
number.
8.70 × 10-1 = 0.087 × 101
2. Add the mantissas
9.95 + 0.087 = 10.037 and write the sum 10.037 × 101
3. Put the result in Normalised Form
10.037 × 101 = 1.0037 × 102 (shift mantissa, adjust exponent)
check for overflow/underflow of the exponent after normalisation
4. Round the result
If the mantissa does not fit in the space reserved for it, it has to be rounded off.
For Example: If only 4 digits are allowed for mantissa
1.0037 × 102 ===> 1.004 × 102
(only have a hidden bit with binary floating point numbers)
Example addition in binary
Perform 0.5 + (-0.4375)
0.5 = 0.1 × 20 = 1.000 × 2-1 (normalised)
-0.4375 = -0.0111 × 20 = -1.110 × 2-2 (normalised)
1. Rewrite the smaller number such that its exponent matches with the exponent of the larger
number.
-1.110 × 2-2 = -0.1110 × 2-1
2. Add the mantissas:
1.000 × 2-1 + -0.1110 × 2-1 = 0.001 × 2-1
3. Normalise the sum, checking for overflow/underflow:
0.001 × 2-1 = 1.000 × 2-4
-126 <= -4 <= 127 ===> No overflow or underflow
4. Round the sum:
The sum fits in 4 bits so rounding is not required
 Check: 1.000 × 2-4 = 0.0625 which is equal to 0.5 - 0.4375
Correct!
Floating Point Multiplication
Multiply the following two numbers in scientific notation by hand:
1.110 × 1010 × 9.200 × 10-5
1. Add the exponents to find
New Exponent = 10 + (-5) = 5
If we add biased exponents, bias will be added twice. Therefore we need to subtract it once
to compensate:
(10 + 127) + (-5 + 127) = 259
259 - 127 = 132 which is (5 + 127) = biased new exponent
2. Multiply the mantissas
1.110 × 9.200 = 10.212000
Can only keep three digits to the right of the decimal point, so the result is
10.212 × 105
3. Normalise the result
1.0212 × 106
4. Round it
1.021 × 106

Example multiplication in binary:

1.000 × 2-1 × -1.110 × 2-2
1. Add the biased exponents
(-1 + 127) + (-2 + 127) - 127 = 124 ===> (-3 + 127)
2. Multiply the mantissas
1.000
× 1.110
-----------
0000
1000
1000
+ 1000
-----------
1110000 ===> 1.110000

The product is 1.110000 × 2-3

Need to keep it to 4 bits 1.110 × 2-3
3. Normalise (already normalised)
At this step check for overflow/underflow by making sure that
-126 <= Exponent <= 127
1 <= Biased Exponent <= 254
4. Round the result (no change)
5. Adjust the sign.
Since the original signs are different, the result will be negative
-1.110 × 2-3