Comparison between Binary and Decimal Floating-Point Numbers

A Decimal Floating-Point Specification

E v e n though decimal ar i thmet ic i s pervasive in financial and commercial transactions, computers are s td l implement ing almost all arithmetic calculations using binary ar i thmet ic . A s chip real estate becomes cheaper it i s becoming likely tha t more computer m a n ufacturers will provide processors wi th decimal arithme t i c engines. Programming languages and databases are expandi...

Decimal Floating-Point: Algorism for Computers

Origins of decimal arithmetic • Decimal (base 10) arithmetic has been used for thousands of years • Algorism (Indo-Arabic place value system) in use since 800 AD • Many early computers were decimal Decimal computation today • Pervasive in financial, commercial, and human-centric applications – often a legal requirement • Benchmarks do not reflect actual use • 55% of numeric data in databases ar...

Design Exploration for Decimal Floating-Point Arithmetic

Commercial applications and databases typically store numerical data in decimal format. Currently, however, microprocessors do not provide instructions or hardware support for decimal floating-point arithmetic [ 1 ]. Consequently, decimal numbers are often read into computers, converted to binary numbers, and then processed using binary floating-point arithmetic. Results are then converted back...

Floating Point Numbers

The natural arithmetic operand in a computer is the binary integer. However, the range of numbers that can be represented is limited by the computer’s word size. We cannot represent very large or very small numbers. For example, in a computer with a 32 bit word, the largest signed number is 2 – 1. The range is further diminished if some bits of the word are used for fractions. There are techniq...

Chapter 3 Decimal Floating Point Multipliers and MAC Unit