Fixed-point arithmetic: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:52, 8 June 2005

Revision as of 23:03, 16 June 2005

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For example, a fixed-point number with 4 digits after the decimal point could be used to store numbers such as 1.3467, 281243.3234 and 0.1000, but would round 1.0301789 to 1.0302 and 0.0000654 to 0.0001.

Fixed-point can exactly represent decimal fractions while still employing the base 2 arithmetic that is

efficient in most of today's computers.

Most floating point representations in computers use base 2 values, which cannot exactly represent

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same number of bits in its representation).

A common use for fixed-point numbers is for storing monetary values, where the "inexact" values

of floating-point numbers are often a liability.

Fixed-point representations are also sometimes used if either the executing processor does not have any [[floating point]] unit (FPU) or if fixed-point provides an