IEEE Standard for Radix-Independent Floating-Point Arithmetic

Abstract

A family of commercially feasible ways for new systems to perform floating-point arithmetic is defined. This standard specifies constraints on parameters defining values of basic and extended floating-point numbers; add, subtract, multiply, divide, square root, remainder, and compare operations; conversions between integers and floating-point numbers; conversions between different floating-point precisions; conversion between basic precision floating-point numbers and decimal strings; and floating-point exceptions and their handling, including nonnumbers. It is intended that an implementation of a floating-point system conforming to this standard can be realized entirely in software, entirely in hardware, or in any combination of software and hardware. Retrofitting issues are not considered.