Exam-style question
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If the binary point in a floating point mantissa is moved one place to the left during normalisation, what happens to the exponent?.
- A.The exponent increases by 1
- B.The exponent decreases by 1
- C.The exponent becomes 0
- D.The exponent changes sign but keeps the same magnitude
Model answer
What a good answer should say
- The exponent increases by 1
Explanation
Why this works
Moving the binary point one place to the left makes the mantissa twice as large. Increasing the exponent by one compensates for this change, preserving the value.
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