The Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) has evolved into a powerful and flexible processor. The latest graphic processors provide fully programmable vertex and pixel processing units that support vector operations up to single floating-point precision. This computational power is now being used for general-purpose computations. However, some applications require higher precision than single precision. This paper describes the emulation of a 44-bit floating-point number format and its corresponding operations. An implementation is presented along with performance and accuracy results.
* Libraries based on a floating-point representation The actual trend of CPUs is to have highly optimized floating-point operators. Some libraries, such as the MPFUN @cite_8 , exploit these floating-point operators by using an array of floating-point number.
@cite_8
2005242289
A new version of a Fortran multiprecision computation system, based on the Fortran 90 language, is described. With this new approach, a translator program is not required—translation of Fortran code for multiprecision is accomplished by merely utilizing advanced features of Fortran 90, such as derived data types and operator extensions. This approach results in more-reliable translation and permits programmers of multiprecision applications to utilize the full power of Fortran 90. Three multiprecision data types are supported in this system: multiprecision integer, real, and complex. All the usual Fortran conventions for mixed-mode operations are supported, and many of the Fortran intrinsics, such as SIN, EXP, and MOD, are supported with multiprecision arguments. An interesting application of this software, wherein new number-theoretic identities have been discovered by means of multiprecision computations, is included also.