4.5.4.8 Normalisation of floating point form

Question 1

What is normalisation and how can you tell a bit pattern is normalised?

Answer 1

e.g 0.01, We need to change this to 0.1 for it be normalised.
Leftmost 2 digits/bits are different;
A significant bit is stored after the binary point;
Bit after point different from bit before point;
(negative number) starts with 10…
(positive number starts with 01)….;

Question 2

Why is normalisation used?

Answer 2

To maximise precision in a given number of bits //
To minimise rounding errors //
To have just one representation of the number //
To simplify arithmetic operations;