Detection of potential need to use a larger data format in performing floating point operations

The article of manufacture of claim 4, wherein:nbit 52 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, zero significand, and nonextreme exponent, and to a sign of positive;bit 53 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, zero significand, and nonextreme exponent, and to a sign of negative;bit 54 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, zero significand, and extreme exponent, and to a sign of positive;bit 55 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, zero significand, and extreme exponent, and to a sign of negative;bit 56 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, nonzero significand, and extreme exponent, and to a sign of positive;bit 57 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, nonzero significand, and extreme exponent, and to a sign of negative;bit 58 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, nonzero significand, nonextreme exponent, and zero leftmost digit in the significand, and to a sign of positive;bit 59 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, nonzero significand, nonextreme exponent, and zero leftmost digit in the significand, and to a sign of negative;bit 60 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, nonzero significand, nonextreme exponent and nonzero leftmost digit in the significand, and to a sign of positive;bit 61 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, nonzero significand, nonextreme exponent and nonzero leftmost digit in the significand, and to a sign of negative;bit 62 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of infinity or not a number, and to a sign of positive; andbit 63 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of infinity or not a number, and to a sign of negative.

The article of manufacture of claim 6, wherein a match indicates the value is safe or potentially unsafe depending on the selected conditions.

The method of claim 14, wherein:nbit 52 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, zero significand, and nonextreme exponent, and to a sign of positive;bit 53 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, zero significand, and nonextreme exponent, and to a sign of negative;bit 54 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, zero significand, and extreme exponent, and to a sign of positive;bit 55 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, zero significand, and extreme exponent, and to a sign of negative;bit 56 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, nonzero significand, and extreme exponent, and to a sign of positive;bit 57 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, nonzero significand, and extreme exponent, and to a sign of negative;bit 58 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, nonzero significand, nonextreme exponent, and zero leftmost digit in the significand, and to a sign of positive;bit 59 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, nonzero significand, nonextreme exponent, and zero leftmost digit in the significand, and to a sign of negative;bit 60 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, nonzero significand, nonextreme exponent and nonzero leftmost digit in the significand, and to a sign of positive;bit 61 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, nonzero significand, nonextreme exponent and nonzero leftmost digit in the significand, and to a sign of negative;bit 62 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of infinity or not a number, and to a sign of positive; andbit 63 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of infinity or not a number, and to a sign of negative.

The system of claim 22, wherein:nbit 52 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, zero significand, and nonextreme exponent, and to a sign of positive;bit 53 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, zero significand, and nonextreme exponent, and to a sign of negative;bit 54 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, zero significand, and extreme exponent, and to a sign of positive;bit 55 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, zero significand, and extreme exponent, and to a sign of negative;bit 56 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, nonzero significand, and extreme exponent, and to a sign of positive;bit 57 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, nonzero significand, and extreme exponent, and to a sign of negative;bit 58 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, nonzero significand, nonextreme exponent, and zero leftmost digit in the significand, and to a sign of positive;bit 59 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, nonzero significand, nonextreme exponent, and zero leftmost digit in the significand, and to a sign of negative;bit 60 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, nonzero significand, nonextreme exponent and nonzero leftmost digit in the significand, and to a sign of positive;bit 61 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of finite number, nonzero significand, nonextreme exponent and nonzero leftmost digit in the significand, and to a sign of negative;bit 62 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of infinity or not a number, and to a sign of positive; andbit 63 corresponds to a data group having the characteristics of infinity or not a number, and to a sign of negative.

The system of claim 24, wherein the machine instruction is in a format of one architecture and is emulated to execute on a processor having another architecture, said another architecture being different from said one architecture.