CSC 371
Systems I
Homework 3
Assigned Oct. 21, due Oct. 30
- Problems from Chapter 5:
3,10,13,14
Problems from Chapter 6:
1,2,9,11,13
Additional problem 1:
Suppose you are given a large (hundreds or thousands) sorted list
of positive floating-point numbers, and you are told to add them up.
Should you add them from smallest to largest, largest to smallest, or
does it make no difference? Why?
Additional problem 2:
The IBM 370 used a floating-point format somewhat like the modern
IEEE standard (which hadn't been invented yet), but not quite the same.
The biggest difference was that
the exponent field was treated as a power of 16, rather than as a power
of 2. Thus for example the number 80 = 5 * 16 would be normalized to
1.010000... * 26 in IEEE, but to 0.101000... * 162
in IBM 370. Discuss the pros and cons of this approach
in contrast to the IEEE standard, with particular attention to precision
and accuracy.
Last modified:
Tue Oct 21 15:01:52 EDT 1997
Stephen Bloch / sbloch@boethius.adelphi.edu