>There is some mis-information about BCD & packed decimals. I don't know about mini/mainframe architecture. But in PC, the name is "Binary Coded Decimals" or BCD. There are two types of it, "unpacked BCD" & "packed BCD".
>
>Unpacked BCD only consist of one digit per-byte. The lo-byte is for the digit (unsigned), the hi-byte is for other purposes.
>Packed BCD is two digit per byte, one for each nibble (the lo-byte and the hi-byte). The leftmost digit is for sign.
You are right; BCD can be either packed or unpacked. I had quite forgotten about the details, since I never used them in actual practice.
So, for calculations that are 100% accurate (at least for plus and minus), you have to use BCD - it doesn't matter so much whether it is packed or not.
>Btw, CONGRATULATIONS for you! :-))))
Thanks.
Difference in opinions hath cost many millions of lives: for instance, whether flesh be bread, or bread be flesh; whether whistling be a vice or a virtue; whether it be better to kiss a post, or throw it into the fire... (from Gulliver's Travels)
