Intel Corporation
Floating-Point Dynamic Range Expansion

Abstract:

The present disclosure relates generally to techniques for adjusting the number representation (e.g., format) of a variable before and/or after performing one or more arithmetic operations on the variable. In particular, the present disclosure relates to scaling the range of a variable to a suitable representation based on available hardware (e.g., hard logic) in an integrated circuit device. For example, an input in a first number format (e.g., bfloat16) may be scaled to a second number format (e.g., half-precision floating-point) so that circuitry implemented to receive inputs in the second number format may perform one or more arithmetic operations on the input. Further, the output produced by the circuitry may be scaled back to the first number format. Accordingly, arithmetic operations, such as a dot-product, performed in a first format may be emulated by scaling the inputs to and/or the outputs from arithmetic operations performed in another format.