Arithmetic Logic Unit

Arithmetic Logic Unit

Arithmetic logic unit is that part of the computer which performs the different logic operations and arithmetic calculations like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. It is the high speed digital circuit that solves calculations and does comparisons.

Functions of Arithmetic Logic Unit:

• Almost all the actions of the computer are done by it. It gets its data from a certain computer memory called processor register . After the data gets processed, its results get stored in output registers of the arithmetic logic unit .

• The arithmetic logic unit can perform integer arithmetic operations like addition, subtraction, etc.

• It can also perform bitwise logic operations like AND, OR, XOR, etc.

• The arithmetic logic unit performs bit-shifting operations like rotating or shifting a certain word to either the left or the right by a given number of bits. These can also be represented as divisions by 2 and also multiplications by 2. These are the simple operations carried out by the arithmetic logic unit .

Arithmetic logic unit enhancements:

An engineer can arrange an arithmetic logic unit in such a way that it can perform many complex operations. Some of the modifications are:

• Calculation in a single clock which means that in just one step, it can find the square root a number.

• Interactive calculation uses more than one step to calculate square roots.

• Through software emulation the calculations are further carried out.

• Software libraries are used to report to the programmers the absence of emulation and co-processor.


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