Semantics for exact floating point operations

Abstract

Semantics are given for the four elementary arithmetic operations and the square root, to characterize what are termed exact floating point operations. The operands of the arithmetic operations and the argument of the square root are all floating point numbers in one format. In every case, the result is a pair of floating point numbers in the same format with no accuracy lost in the computation. These semantics make it possible to realize the following principle: it shall be a user option to discard any information in the result of a floating point arithmetic operation. The reliability and portability previously associated with only mathematical software implementations in integer arithmetic can thus be attained exploiting the generally higher efficiency of floating point hardware.<>