**3. Fixed point number representation**

This section will cover the different formats used to represent a number using fixed point precision. In addition, the effects of truncation, rounding, and saturation will be covered. SystemC provides a standard set of fixed point types that have been also adopted and adapted by electronic system level (ESL) tools. We will talk about SystemC's fixed number representation. We will talk also about traditional RTL fixed point implementations and the required hardware, complexity and performance.
