The ALU is capable of performing two operations namely : arithmetic and logic.
The set of arithmetic operations that a particular ALU supports may be limited to addition and subtraction, or might include multiplication, division, trigonometry functions such as sine, cosine, etc., and square roots.
Some ALUs can only operate on whole numbers (integers) while others use floating point (decimal) to represent real numbers, though with limited precision.
Floating point numbers are numbers that contain floating decimal points. For example, the numbers 5.5, 0.001, and -2,345.6789 are floating point numbers.
Numbers that do not have decimal places are called integers.
An ALU may also compare numbers and return boolean values (true or false).
For Eg : Is 4 > 5 ?
Boolean answer is False.
Logical operations involve Boolean logic like AND, OR, XOR, and NOT.
Lets discuss about Boolean Logic or Logical operators in the next chapter.
