Fixed-point Arithmetic

Fixed-point Arithmetic

In computing, a fixed-point number representation is a real data type for a number that has a fixed number of digits after (and sometimes also before) the radix point (after the decimal point '.' in English decimal notation). Fixed-point number representation can be compared to the more complicated (and more computationally demanding) floating-point number representation.

Fixed-point numbers are useful for representing fractional values, usually in base 2 or base 10, when the executing processor has no floating point unit (FPU) or if fixed-point provides improved performance or accuracy for the application at hand. Most low-cost embedded microprocessors and microcontrollers do not have an FPU.

Read more about Fixed-point Arithmetic:  Representation, Operations, Binary Vs. Decimal, Notation, Precision Loss and Overflow, Implementations

Famous quotes containing the word arithmetic:

    Under the dominion of an idea, which possesses the minds of multitudes, as civil freedom, or the religious sentiment, the power of persons are no longer subjects of calculation. A nation of men unanimously bent on freedom, or conquest, can easily confound the arithmetic of statists, and achieve extravagant actions, out of all proportion to their means; as, the Greeks, the Saracens, the Swiss, the Americans, and the French have done.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)