Analysis for $0.375$: (1) it is positive, so the sign bit will be $0$. (2) The binary form for $0.375$ is computed as follows:
- $0.375 \times 2 = 0.75$. The integer part in the result is $0$, so use $0.75 - 0 = 0.75$ for the next step.
- $0.75 \times 2 = 1.5$. The integer part in the result is $1$, so use $1.5 - 1 = 0.5$ for the next step.
- $0.5 \times 2 = 1.0$. The integer part in the result is $1$, so use $1.0 - 1 = 0.0$ for the next step.
- Since $0.0$ is just $0$, we stop here.
As such, the binary form for $0.375$, from top to bottom, is $0.$$0$$1$$1$$ = 0.011 \times 2^0 = 0.11 \times 2^{-1}$. The significand will, thus, be $11000$. (3) Finally, for the exponent, we stopped at $2^{-1}$, whose exponent is $-1$. When we add the bias of $15$, we get $-1 + 15 = 14$, which makes our exponent equal to $01110$. The number $0.375$, therefore, in its floating-point form is:
+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+
| 0 | | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | = 0.375_{10}
+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+
Question: $0.375$ is the sum of which two negative powers of $2$? In other words, what are $m$ and $n$ in $0.375 = \frac{1}{2^m} + \frac{1}{2^n}$?