answersLogoWhite

0


Best Answer

In a decimal floating point number representation it is always possible to use a power of 10 (exponent) to write a number so that it lies between 0 and 1, by changing the exponent. For example: 5 = 0.5 x 10 50 = 0.5 x (10 to the power 2) 0.05 = 0.5 x (10 to the power -1) This is called normalisation. In the binary representation of floating point numbers it is always possible to shift the number until it starts with a 1, provided you change the exponent at the same time. This is how computer memory works. If you do this, however, the 1 does not need to be stored (because it can always be added with a little extra processing). So in computers the number is often normalised, and the leading 1 omitted. But if the storage convention assumes this is done, then, of course, it must be done for every number stored in memory.

User Avatar

Wiki User

15y ago
This answer is:
User Avatar

Add your answer:

Earn +20 pts
Q: Why is normalisation necessary when representing floating point form?
Write your answer...
Submit
Still have questions?
magnify glass
imp
Related questions

How does a computer represent floating point numbers?

In Computing, Floating Point refers to a method of representing an estimate of a real number in a way which has the ability to support a large range of values.


When was Floating Point created?

Floating Point was created in 2007-04.


What is the floating point unit used for on the processor system?

"Floating Point" refers to the decimal point. Since there can be any number of digits before and after the decimal, the point "floats". The floating point unit performs arithmetic operations on decimal numbers.


What are some common errors detected by the CPU?

Fixed point overflow, Floating point overflow, Floating point underflow, etc.


What is the purpose of normalisation?

If you are referring to normalization of floating point numbers, it is to maintain the most precision of the number possible. Leading zeros in floating point representation is lost precision, thus normalization removes the leading zeros by shifting left and adjusting the exponent. If the calculation was done in a hidden extended precision register (like IEEE 80-bit format) extra precision bits may be shifted in to the LSBs before restoring the result to a standard single or double precision register, reducing loss of precision.


Is Fixed floating point choice is not an important ISA condition?

fixed/floating point choice is an important ISA condition.


What is the possible reason if the turbo C compiler displays an error like this Illegal use of floating point?

Floating-point library not linked in.


How many bits are used in double precision floating point format number representation?

Depends on the format IEEE double precision floating point is 64 bits. But all sorts of other sizes have been used IBM 7094 double precision floating point was 72 bits CDC 6600 double precision floating point was 120 bits Sperry UNIVAC 1110 double precision floating point was 72 bits the DEC VAX had about half a dozen different floating point formats varying from 32 bits to 128 bits the IBM 1620 had floating point sizes from 4 decimal digits to 102 decimal digits (yes digits not bits).


What is scalar values?

Scalar values are single values, not arrays or objects, representing a single data point such as a number, string, or boolean. In programming, scalar values are not composite data structures and do not contain nested values. Examples of scalar values include integers, floating-point numbers, and characters.


What is FLOPS?

million floating point operations per second A megaflop is a measure of a computer's speed and can be expressed as: A million floating point operations per second.


What are the three parts of a floating-point number?

Assuming you're asking about IEEE-754 floating-point numbers, then the three parts are base, digits, and exponent.


What are the 3 parts of a floating part number?

If you mean floating point number, they are significand, base and exponent.