Path: utzoo!dciem!array!colin From: colin@array.UUCP (Colin Plumb) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: Killer Micro II Message-ID: <640@array.UUCP> Date: 30 Aug 90 02:21:51 GMT References: <527@llnl.LLNL.GOV> <603@array.UUCP> <2482@l.cc.purdue.edu> <1990Aug29.005329.13598@uncecs.edu> Organization: Array Systems Computing, Inc., Toronto, Ontario, CANADA Lines: 12 In article <1990Aug29.005329.13598@uncecs.edu> urjlew@uncecs.edu (Rostyk Lewyckyj) writes: > IEEE is what? 80 bits divided up into > 1+15+64 ? So it really takes 80 bit fp for 64 bits of precision. IEEE is 1+7+24 (single) or 1+11+52 (double). The double-extended rules specify only minimum mantissa and exponent ranges, not representations. The committee members (I've talked to 'em about it) wanted to require figures that would mean at least 96 bits, but Intel, who had already built the 8087 on an early draft successfully lobbied the requirements down to what the 80-bit format they'd implemented could cover. -- -Colin