PPT Slide

Overflow Detection (Patterson)

• Overflow: the result is too large (or too small) to represent properly
  • Example: - 8 < = 4-bit binary number <= 7

• When adding operands with different signs, overflow cannot occur!

• Overflow occurs when adding:
  • 2 positive numbers and the sum is negative
  • 2 negative numbers and the sum is positive

0

1

1

1

0

0

1

1

+

1

0

1

0

1

1

1

0

0

1

0

1

1

+

0

1

1

1

1

1

0

7

3

1

-6

- 4

- 5

7

0

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