Addition and Subtraction with Signed-

Magnitude Data (Mano, Section 10-2)

Basics Seminar, CSc 8215 High Performance Computing (2005 Fall)
Mary R. Hudachek-Buswell
 Sign-magnitude number

 A sign-magnitude Signed-
number Z can be Number
Magnitude
represented as (As,
A) where As is the +3 0 11
sign of Z and A is the +2 0 10
magnitude of Z.
+1 0 01
 The leftmost
position, As, is the +0 0 00
sign bit. -0 1 00
 The sign bit is either
positive = 0 or -1 1 01
negative = 1 -2 1 10
-3 1 11
 Eight Conditions for Signed-
Magnitude Addition/Subtraction
ADD SUBTRACT Magnitudes
Operation Magnit
udes A>B A<B A=B
(+A) + (+B) + (A + B)
(+A) + (-B) + (A – B ) - (B – A ) + (A – B )
(-A) + (+B) - (A – B ) + (B – A ) + (A – B )
(-A) + (-B) - ( A + B)
(+A) - (+B) + (A – B ) - (B – A ) + (A – B )
(+A) - (-B) + (A + B)
(-A) - (+B) - ( A + B)
(-A) - (-B) - (A – B ) + (B – A ) + (A – B )
 Examples
Example of adding two +3 0 011
magnitudes when
the result is the sign
+ +2 0 010
of both operands: +5 0 101

Example of adding two -3 1 011

magnitudes when the + +2 0 010
result is the sign of the
-( +3 011
larger magnitude:
- +2) 010
- 1 1 001
Flowchart of Addition and Subtraction
with Signed-Magnitude Data
Start
Subtraction Start Addition

Bs = Bs’

As = Bs

A> B Ar = A + B
Ars = As

Ar = A – B
A= B Ars = As

Ar = B – A Ar = 0
Ars = Bs Ars = 0

Done
 Summary of Addition and Subtraction
with Signed-Magnitude Data
 The signs use an exclusive OR gate where if
the output is 0, then the signs are the same.
 Hence, add the magnitudes of the same signed
numbers. If the sum is an overflow, then a
carry is stored in E where E = 1 and
transferred to the flip-flop AVF, add-overflow.
 Otherwise, the signs are opposite and
subtraction is initiated and stored in A.
 No overflow can occur with subtraction so the
AVF is cleared.
 If E = 1, then A > B.
 However, if A = 0, then A = B and the sign is
made positive.
 If E = 0, then A < B and sign for A is
complemented.
Addition and Subtraction with Signed-
Magnitude Data Hardware Design

Bs B register
Mode
Control
AVF Complementer M

E Parallel Adder
Input
Output Carry
S
Carry
As A register Load
Sum