Date: Mon, 13 Nov 1995 23:44:31 -0600 (CST)
From: Patrick Sullivan <psullivn AT intersurf DOT com>
To: "Luis G. Hernandez U." <ghernan AT cariari DOT ucr DOT ac DOT cr>
Cc: djgpp AT sun DOT soe DOT clarkson DOT edu
Subject: Re: Help with "normalised float" etc.

Lois, normalized basically means something like scientific notation.
When you are going to do a math operation on 2 numbers in fp, for instance

2.0 * 4.0, this is easy, and this is some what normalized. But

2.0+e4 * 4789.45+e4 is not normalized. To be normal, the first part of
the float must be of the form n.x, n > 0 and n < 9; x can be whatever your
precision is. So to normalize the 2nd example, leave 2.0+e4 as it is, its
already normal. The 4789.45+e4 must be turned to 4.78945+e7. Then the 
math is easier for you or a computer program. 

I remembered this somewhat from about 10 years ago, writing a floating point
package for a Z80 processor in z80asm. Hope this helps!

Patrick psullivn AT intersurf DOT com