Write down the bit pattern in the mantissa assuming a floating point format that uses binary numbers

Question:

Write down the bit pattern in the mantissa assuming a floating point format that uses binary numbers in the mantissa (essentially what you have been doing in this chapter). Assume there are 24 bits, and you do not need to normalize. Is this representation exact?

Binary numbers are used in the mantissa field, but they do not have to be. IBM used base 16 numbers, for example, in some of their floating point formats. There are other approaches that are possible as well, each with their own particular advantages and disadvantages. The following table shows fractions to be represented in various floating point formats. 1/3 b. 1/10 a.