Arithmetic shifter that performs multiply/divide by two to the nth power for positive and negative N

摘要

A method and apparatus in accordance with the present invention provides for multiplying and/or dividing an operand by 2N using an arithmetic shifter where N is an integer represented in 2's complement form. The invention multiplies an operand by 2N by left-shifting the operand by N bit positions when N is positive and right-shifting the operand by the absolute value of N bit positions when N is negative, and divides an operand by 2N by right-shifting the operand by N bit positions when N is positive and left-shifting the operand by the absolute value of N bit positions when N is negative.