Question: Microprocessor chips often do not include floating-point operations in their hardware instruction set. Floating-point instructions must then be implemented either by using software functions or

Microprocessor chips often do not include floating-point operations in their hardware instruction set. Floating-point instructions must then be implemented either by using software functions or via the inclusion of a supplementary floating-point chip to be used with the microprocessor chip.

a. Using pseudo code, describe the algorithm for summing two floating-point numbers.

b. Describe the algorithm for multiplying two floating-point numbers together.

c. What might be the performance difference between a floating-point multiplication in a microprocessor having the algorithm implemented in a floating-point chip rather than in a software algorithm? (Answer this question by indicating which method would be faster. Then estimate the difference in speeds by expressing a factor such as 3, 10, 100, and 1000.)

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