UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS

Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Digital Computer Arithmetic

ECE 666

Part 2
Unconventional Number Systems

Israel Koren
Spring 2008

ECE666/Koren Part.2 .1 Copyright 2008 Koren

 Unconventional Fixed-Radix Number
Systems

 Number system commonly used in arithmetic units -

binary system with two's complement representation
of negative numbers
 Other number systems have proven to be useful for
certain applications -
 Negative radix number system
Signed-digit number system
 Sign-logarithm number system
 Residue number system

ECE666/Koren Part.2 .2 Copyright 2008 Koren

 Negative-Radix Number Systems
The radix r of a fixed-radix system - usually a
positive integer
 r can be negative - r=- ( - a positive integer)
 Digit set - xi = 0,1,...,-1
 Value of n-tuple (xn-1,xn-2,...,x0) -

 The weight wi is -

ECE666/Koren Part.2 .3 Copyright 2008 Koren

 Example - Negative-Decimal System

 Negative-radix number system with =10 -

nega-decimal system
 Three-digit nega-decimal numbers -
 192-10 =100-90+2=12 ; 012-10=-10+2=-8
 Largest positive value - 909-10=90910
 Smallest value - 090-10=-9010
 Asymmetric range - -90  X  909
 Approximately 10 times more positives than negatives
This is always true for odd values of n -
opposite for even n
 Example - the range for n=4 is -9090  X  909

ECE666/Koren Part.2 .4 Copyright 2008 Koren

 Negative-Radix Number Systems -
Properties
No need for a separate sign digit
 No need for a special method to represent
negative numbers
 Sign of number is determined by the first
nonzero digit
 No distinction between positive and negative
number representations - arithmetic operations
are indifferent to the sign of the numbers
Algorithms for the basic arithmetic operations in
the negative-radix number system are slightly
more complex then their counterparts for the
conventional number systems

ECE666/Koren Part.2 .5 Copyright 2008 Koren

 Example - Negative-Binary System
 Negative-radix numbers of length n=4, =2 -
nega-binary system
Range - -1010=1010-2  X  0101-2=+510
 When adding nega-binary numbers - carry bits
can be either positive or negative
 Example: -8 +4 -2 +1
0 0 1 0 -2
0 0 1 1 -1
1 1 0 1 -3
 Nega-binary - proposed for signal processing
applications
 Algorithms exist for all arithmetic operations
 Did not gain popularity: Main reason - not better
than the two's complement system

ECE666/Koren Part.2 .6 Copyright 2008 Koren

 Signed-Digit Number Systems
 So far - digit set {0,...,r-1}
 In the signed-digit
__ __(SD)- number system, -
digit set is {r-1,r-2,…,1,0,1,...,r-1} ( i = -i)
 No separate sign digit
 Example:
- - -
 r=10, n=2 ; digits - {9,8,...,1,0,1,...,8,9}
- -  X  99 -
 Range - 99 199 numbers
 2 digits, 19 possibilities each - 361 representations -
redundancy
- - -
 01=19=1 ; 02=18=-2
 Representation of 0 (or 10) is unique
 Out of 361 representations, 361-199=162 are redundant -
81% redundancy
 Each number in range has at most two representations

ECE666/Koren Part.2 .7 Copyright 2008 Koren

 Reducing Redundancy in Signed-Digit
Number Systems
 Redundancy can be beneficial - but more bits needed
 Reducing redundancy - digit set restricted to

  x  - smallest integer larger than or equal to x

 To represent a number in a radix r system - at least

r different digits are needed
 a-  xi  a - 2a+1 digits
 2a+1  r and

ECE666/Koren Part.2 .8 Copyright 2008 Koren

 Example - SD Number System

r=10 - range of a is 5  a  9
--
 If a=6, n=2 - 133 numbers in range 66  X  66
 13 values for each digit - total of 13 2 =169
representations - 27% redundancy
-
1 has only one representation - 01 - 19 is not
valid
-
 4 has two representations - 04 and 16

ECE666/Koren Part.2 .9 Copyright 2008 Koren

 Eliminating Carry Propagation Chains
Calculating (xn-1,...,x0)  (yn-1,...,y0)=(sn-1,...,s0)
 Breaking the carry chains - an algorithm in which
sum digit si depends only on the four operand digits
xi, yi, xi-1, yi-1
Addition time independent of length of operands
 An algorithm that achieves this independence:
 Step 1: Compute interim sum ui and carry digit ci
ui = xi + yi - r ci
where

Step 2: Calculate the final sum si = ui + ci-1

ECE666/Koren Part.2 .10 Copyright 2008 Koren
 Example - r=10, a=6
-
xi=6,...,0,1,...,6
 Step 1 - ui =( xi+yi )-10 ci
 Example - 3645+1456
3645 3 6 4 5 x
+ 1456 + 1 4 5 6 y
5101
0 1 1 1 c
4 0
-
1 1 u
5 1 0 1 s
 In conventional decimal number system - carry
propagates from least to most significant digit
 Here - no carry propagation chain
Carry bits shifted to left to simplify execution of
second step

ECE666/Koren Part.2 .11 Copyright 2008 Koren

 Converting Representations
 This addition algorithm can be used for converting
a decimal number to SD form by considering each
digit as the sum xi+yi above
Example - converting decimal 6849 to SD
xi+yi 6 8 4 9
c 1 1 0 1
u
-- -
4 2 4 1
s
-- -
1 3 2 5 1
 Converting SD to decimal - subtracting digits with
negative weight from digits with positive weight
-- -
 Example - converting 13251 to decimal
10050
-03201
6849

ECE666/Koren Part.2 .12 Copyright 2008 Koren

 Proof of the Two-Step Algorithm
 To guarantee no new carry - |si|  a
 Since |ci-1|1, |ui| must be  a-1 for all xi,yi
 Example - largest xi+yi is 2a  ci=1, ui=2a-r
since a  r-1, ui=2a-r  a-1
 Example - smallest xi+yi for which ci=1 is a 
ui=a-r<0 or |ui|=r-a; to get |ui|  a-1, 2a  r+1
 Selected digit set must satisfy
 Exercise - show that for all
values of xi+yi, |ui|  a-1 if
Example - for SD decimal numbers, a  6
guarantees no new carries in previous algorithm

ECE666/Koren Part.2 .13 Copyright 2008 Koren

 Addition of Binary SD Numbers
- - a=1
 Only one possible digit set - {1,0,1}
 Interim sum and carry in addition algorithm -

Summary of rules - - -- -
- -
-

- -
 Addition is commutative - 10,10,11 not included
In the binary case - cannot be
satisfied
 No guarantee that a new carry will not be generated
in the second step of the algorithm
ECE666/Koren Part.2 .14 Copyright 2008 Koren
 Addition - Carry Generation
-
 If operands do not have 1 - new carries not generated
 Example -
 In conventional representation -
a carry propagates from least
to most significant position
 Here - no carry propagation chain exists
 If operands have 1- - new carries may be generated
Example -
 If xi-1yi-1 = 01 - ci-1 = 1
-
and if xiyi = 01 - ui = 1
si = ui+ci-1 = 1+1 -
a new carry is generated
 Stars indicate positions where new carries are generated and
must be allowed to propagate

ECE666/Koren Part.2 .15 Copyright 2008 Koren

 Addition - Avoiding Carry Generation
-
ci-1=ui=1 when xiyi = 01 and xi-1yi-1 = 11 or 01
-
 Selecting ci=0 - ui = 1
-- -
 However, for xi-1yi-1=11  ci-1=1
-
and we must still select ci=1, ui=1
-- -
 Similarly, when xiyi=01 and xi-1yi-1= 11 or 01,
-
instead of ui=1  select ci=0 & ui=1
ui and ci can be determined by examining the two
bits to the right xi-1yi-1
ui and ci can still be calculated in parallel for all
bit positions
- -- -
- -
-
ECE666/Koren Part.2 .16 Copyright 2008 Koren
 Addition of Binary SD Numbers -
Modified Rules

 Example - 1 -10 -11 7

0 -
11 0 0 -4
-
0 1 0 0 1 c
1 0 1 - -1
1 u
0 0 1 0 -1 3

 Direct
- summation of the two operands results in
-
00111, equivalent to 00101, all representing 310

ECE666/Koren Part.2 .17 Copyright 2008 Koren

 Minimal Representations of Binary
SD Numbers
 Representation with a minimal number of nonzero
digits
 Important for fast multiplication and division
algorithms
 Nonzero digits - add/subtract operations, zero
digits - shift-only operations
 Example - Representations of X=7:
-
1001 is the minimal representation
 The canonical recoding algorithm
generates minimal SD representations
of given binary numbers

ECE666/Koren Part.2 .18 Copyright 2008 Koren

 Encoding of SD Binary Numbers
 4x3x2=24 ways to encode 3 values
of a binary signed bit x using 2
bits, x h and x l (high and low)
 Only nine are distinct encodings
under permutation and logical
negation - two have been used in practice
 Encoding #2 - a two's complement representation of
the signed digit x
 Encoding #1 is sometimes preferable
 Satisfies x = x l - xh - 11 has a valid value of 0
 Simplifies conversion from SD to two's complement -
subtracting xn- h 2,...,xh0 from xn-
h 1, xn- l
1,xn-2,...,x0 using
l l

two's complement arithmetic

 This requires a complete binary adder
 A simpler conversion algorithm exists
ECE666/Koren Part.2 .19 Copyright 2008 Koren
 Conversion Algorithm - Simpler Circuit
 Binary signed digits examined one at a time, right to left
 All occurrences of 1- are removed and the negative sign is
forwarded to the most significant bit, the only bit with a
negative weight in the two's complement representation
 The rightmost 1- is replaced by 1 and the negative sign is
forwarded to the left, replacing 0's by 1's until a 1 is
reached, which ``consumes” the negative sign and is
replaced by 0
 If a 1 is not reached - the 0 in the most significant
position is turned into a 1, becoming the negative sign bit
of the two's complement representation
 If a second 1- is encountered before a 1 is, it is replaced
by a 0 and the forwarding of the negative sign continues
 The negative sign is forwarded with the aid of a “borrow”
bit which equals 1 as long as a 1- is being forwarded, and
equals 0 otherwise

ECE666/Koren Part.2 .20 Copyright 2008 Koren

 Conversion Algorithm Rules
yi - i-th digit of the SD number
zi - i-th bit of the two's
complement representation
ci - previous borrow
ci+1 - next borrow
 For the least significant digit we assume c0=0
yi - ci = zi - 2ci+1

ECE666/Koren Part.2 .21 Copyright 2008 Koren

 Conversion Algorithm - Cont.
Example - -1010 - converting SD to two's complement

Range of representable numbers in SD method -

almost double that of the two's complement method
 n-digit SD number must be converted to an (n+1)-bit
two's complement representation

 Without the extra bit position - the number 19 would

be converted to -13

ECE666/Koren Part.2 .22 Copyright 2008 Koren