Even the most powerful computer computes using a vanishingly tiny subset of all possible numbers. This follows from the fact that there are infinitely many numbers, so to specify every possible number would require an infinitely long string of bits...

For modern electronic computers, mathematical computations are carried out within the arithmetic logic unit (ALU) of its central processing unit (CPU). The numbers stored and manipulated by the computer can be represented in either a fixed-point...

In computing, floating-point describes a numerical representation system in which a string of digits (or bits) represents a real number. The most commonly encountered representations are those defined by the IEEE 754 Standard. The name "floating-point"...

by Graham Prophet From a university spin-off company in the North of England comes a microprocessor that is claimed to be the first to operate directly on numbers that it holds in a logarithmic representation. The device is aimed at applications that...

From the University of Newcastle upon Tyne spin-off Northern Digital comes a microprocessor whose maker claims to be the first to operate directly on numbers that are held in a logarithmic representation. The device targets applications that involve heavy computation loads and would...