Assignment: Problems and Solution

Introduction
This assignment brief gives information about how and when to hand in, specifies the tasks you have
to perform and how you will format your essay, and highlights the criteria from which the essay will
be marked. Please follow these instructions carefully.

2 Hand-In
You have to write an essay about comparing two rational numbers that are both given in IEEE 754
binary representation using 32 bits. Your essay should cover a brief explanation of the format, how
to conduct the comparison, and how this can be implemented in a Java program and in a digital
circuit. You are not asked to provide actual implementations but discuss how such implementations
can be done and what has to be taken into account. It connects with the contents about binary
representations of rationals and the contents about digital circuits (You find these notes in Chapter 2
and Chapter 3.

3 Task
Your task is to write an essay that provides the reader with a reminder of the structure of IEEE 754
binary representation (using 32 bits) and considers the topic of comparing two numbers given in this
format. There are four different outcomes of such a comparison: (1) the first number could be
smaller (x < y), (2) the second number could be smaller (x > y), (3) the two numbers could be equal (x
= y), (4) the two numbers cannot be compared (x and y cannot be compared). Make sure your essay
covers all four cases. Try to structure your description that it facilitates an implementation, either in
Java or in a digital circuit. For the Java implementation you should assume that each number is given
as an array int [] number of length 32 and that each array entry number[i] holds either 0 or 1. For the
digital circuit you can only use the basic logic gates for the operations NOT, AND, OR, XOR, NAND,
NOR. Make sure your description covers all possible cases and is clear enough to allow someone
reading it to actually implement a Java program and a digital circuit.

There are specific requirements for your essay that are specified in the next section. Please, observe
them closely. There is no need to use additional sources. If you decide to use additional sources, be
especially careful to write everything in your essay in your own words and that you point out clearly
where and how you have used additional sources. Please, be careful to cite your references/sources
correctly and follow the guidelines on plagiarism outlined below.

4 Requirements
You are asked to write an essay containing the following numbered sections. Make sure that you use
exactly these section headings and numbers.

1. Introduction Outline the topic and contents of your essay, give an overview of the contents of the
different remaining sections of your essay.

2. Representing rational numbers in IEEE 754 binary representation Describe how rational numbers
are represented in binary using IEEE 754 representation. Make sure your description covers all
relevant cases.
3. General outline of an implementation Discuss what needs to be taken into account to create
implementations that cover all relevant cases. Describe the outline of a plan.

4. Steps to compare two rational numbers Provide an algorithmic description of how to compare
two rational numbers in IEEE 754 binary representation. Keep the description at a high level, making
it sufficiently detailed to allow someone to provide an implementation in Java by following the
description but do not include actual implementation details.

5. Implementing the comparison in a digital circuit Discuss how your algorithmic description can be
translated into a digital circuit and what the main differences are to an implementation in a
programming language like Java.

6. Summary and Conclusion Briefly summarise your essay, explain what you have learned, and what
you found difficult. Add a brief assessment of the essay using the marking criteria given below.

There are no strict lower or upper limits on the word count of your essay. It is hard to imagine that a
good essay can be written in less than six pages and there is no need for an essay to be longer than
10 pages. The length of your essay will have no direct influence on your marks. Marks are
determined only by the quality of your essay. Note that too short essays that omit significant aspects
as well as too long essays that are repetitive or include information that is not relevant to the topic
of the essay will not receive full marks