Patent ID: 8898214

Claim:
A method of subtracting floating-point numbers, which comprises: determining, by a processing device, whether a first sign associated with a first floating-point number is unequal to a second sign associated with a second floating-point number; determining, by the processing device, whether a first exponent associated with the first floating-point number is less than a second exponent associated with the second floating-point number; negating, by the processing device, a first mantissa associated with the first floating-point number in response to determining that the first sign is unequal to the second sign and determining that the first exponent is less than the second exponent; and adding, by the processing device, the first mantissa to a second mantissa associated with the second floating-point number in response to determining that the first sign is unequal to the second sign and determining that the first exponent is less than the second exponent, thereby subtracting the first floating-point number from the second floating-point number.