X86 Assembly Language and C Fundamentals

Chapter 10

Binary-Coded Decimal Arithmetic Instructions

The radix is 10 in the decimal number system; therefore, ten digits are used, 0 through 9. The low-value digit is 0 and the high-value digit is (r – 1) = 9. The weight assigned to each position of a decimal number is as follows:

${10}^{n-1}{10}^{n-2}...{10}^3{10}^2{10}^1{10}^0{.10}^{-1}{10}^{-2}{10}^{-3}...{10}^{-m}$

where the integer and fraction are separated by the radix point (decimal point).

Binary-coded decimal (BCD) instructions operate on decimal numbers that are encoded as 4-bit binary numbers in the 8421 code. For example, the decimal number 576 is encoded in BCD as 0101 0111 0110. BCD numbers have a range of 0 to 9; therefore, any number greater than 9 must be adjusted by adding a value of 6 to the number to yield ...