Architectural Improvements in IEEE-Compliant Floating-Point Multiplication
Tuan Danh Nguyen · SHAREOK (University of Oklahoma; Oklahoma State University; Central Oklahoma University) · 2018
Multiplication has long been an important part of any computer architecture. It has usually been a common case for most computer architecture decisions to include in any microarchitecture. However, the difficulty in creating hardware for multiplication because of its inherent shifting of the radix point has been a cogent reason for the need for floating-point hardware in scientific applications. The IEEE 754 floating-point standard was originally ratified in 1985 and later amended in 2008 to make floating-point multiplication easier for users to implement applications. Although floating-point arithmetic creates a mechanism to make things easier for using multiplication, it is complicated both algorithmically and practically for hardware implementations.