MIPS representation (ct’ed)
s bit 31 sign bit for mantissa (0 pos, 1 neg)
exponent 8 bits (“biased” exponent, see next slide)
mantissa 23 bits : always a fraction with an implied binary point at left of bit 22
Number is normalized (see implication next slides)
0 is represented by all zeroe’s.
Note that having the most significant bit as sign bit makes it easier to test for 0, positive, and negative.