Computer Data Representation

1. a Sign bit ["0" is non-negative (+), "1" is negative (-)

2. the Exponent and

3. the Mantissa.

• In an 8-bit pattern example below, the most significant (the right-most) bit is th sign-bit, followed by a 3-bit exponent (expressed in excess notation) followed by a 4-bit mantissa.

Important Note: in a normalized floating point notation, the mantissa must begin, i.e., the most significant bit of the mantissa must be a "1" and the radixpoint is assumed to be at the left of the mantissa. In this course, we will always use the normalized system.