Talk:Minifloat
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[edit] Expert Help Needed
- Please look at this and make sure it makes sense to you. :)
- There don't seem to be good sources for this article. There is a paper linked, but no other references.
- I took off the stub tag since the article is long enough, but I'm not sure it still shouldn't be expanded.
I do not understand exactly the demand for sources. The value of the concept is explained in the article itself. Minifloats are useful in courses about computer arithmetic, IEEE 754 floating point numbers and floating point arithmetic generally. They are used in special graphic cards. I intended the article as an aid to understand the problems with floating point numbers.
Links to other sources, where the word minifloat is used are http://home.earthlink.net/~mrob/pub/math/floatformats.html#minifloat http://www2.enel.ucalgary.ca/People/Norman/enel369winter2001/lab6/ http://www.cs.queensu.ca/home/cisc101/spring2005/webnotes/programs/Minifloat.java http://www.cs.virginia.edu/cs216/classes/lecture16.pdf http://www.caslab.queensu.ca/~apsc142i/W2003/lecturenotes/Section_BCDJ/Lecture15/Lecture%2015.pdf
The special case with exactly 16 bit is called half precision and part of the draft of the revision of IEEE 754 (IEEE 754r) http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/reference/half_precision http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/H/Ha/Half_precision.htm http://www.bostoncoop.net/~tpryor/wiki/index.php?title=Half_precision
Even smaller floating point number are called microfloat, see http://www.dclausen.net/projects/microfloat/
--Brf 08:31, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
If for no other reason than sources make it easier for others to follow along, or to see the same or similar subjects discussed and explained in different words or from a slightly different point of view. It's not criticism, but trying to make the article better. :)
The request for expert help is to try to get another person who is knowledgable about the subject matter to review and see if all is well. I will see what other help I can scrounge as I'm a bit unclear about some of the material. JByrd 00:04, 7 June 2006 (UTC)
