Quiz submission record for quiz3-2-1 at Tue Jul  6 14:22:45 2004:

Your Answer for Question 1:
If data can be considered anything a simple security hole is to misrepresent what that data is simply by assuming that it is something else. In the sense that data on my computer may be given as floats, but someone may change this interpretation to be as integers, this creates a good deal of confusion and anxiety. One solution (although a terrible idea) would be to force data to only be seen as one thing. The tradeoff would be a loss of flexibility for the user. 

Your Answer for Question 2:
A subnormal is a number represented in scientific notation with a leading zero before the decimal. This is important because it fills the register with zeros that can be otherwise implied by using a larger exponent. 

Your Answer for Question 3:
This was done to compensate for the lack of a guard digit. The guard digit would protect accuracy during intermediate calculations by providing an extra digit to the arguments of the operation during intermediate calculations. 

Your Answer for Question 4:
The strongest argument for adhering to the standard would be that it provides the users with something that is already understood. In the sense that the behavior of the new co-processor would be standard and could be easily understood. There would be no special cases that only worked in certain instances. 
The strongest argument against adhereing to the standard are that it is a very difficult standard to adhere to. It requires a good deal of dilligence. Further it is only being throughly used by a small portion of the possible potential users. 


Your unique submission ID is quiz3-2-1-cs61c-eg-1089148965-81.