HACKER Q&A
📣 mardiyah

Y ALU as floating point method of handling the decimal point not devised


Why is CPU/ALU with a floating point method of handling the decimal point position not devised/implemented ?

all simply just treated as integer with a byte or few bits is required to manage or keep tracking the decimal point position, let it be B e.g. 0.2 x 0.7 = 0.14 it’s simply 2 x 7 = 14 . B = 0 987 x 0.07 =69.09 it’s simply 987 x 7 =6909 . B =2

IMHO this CPU/ALU method of microprogramming just far simpler


  👤 rini17 Accepted Answer ✓
That is called fixed point arithmetic and it is in widespread use, but for some reason it wasn't included in recent popular languages. It was there in Turbo Pascal 25 yr ago. It is so simple that it does not need hardware support.