Patent ID: 8346828

Claim:
A system for storing numbers in first and second formats, comprising: a register file; a first computational unit operably communicating with the register file, the first computational unit configured to generate a first number having first flag information indicating that the first number is in the first format and to store the first number in the register file, the first computational unit further configured to generate a second number having second flag information indicating that the second number is in the second format and to store the second number in the register file; and a second computational unit operably communicating with the register file, the second computational unit configured to perform operations utilizing numbers in the first format and not configured to perform operations utilizing numbers in the second format, the second computational unit is further configured to read a third number and third flag information from the register file and to use the third flag information to determine whether the third number is in the first format or the second format; wherein the first computational unit recognizes numbers in at least first and second precisions, wherein all numbers, except for subnormal numbers having a smaller precision of the first and second precisions, are stored in the first format, and wherein subnormal numbers having the smaller precision of the first and second precisions are stored in either the first format or the second format.