Welcome back IT — missed you this week. b) i) Show how this number can be normalized. Step 1: Separate the mantissa and exponent. The given floating-point binary number is $11101011$. It is stored using 5 bits for the mantissa and 3 bits for the exponent. Mantissa: $11101_2$ Exponent: $011_2$ Step 2: Convert the mantissa to its denary (decimal) equivalent. The mantissa $11101_2$ is in 2's complement form. The binary point is assumed after the first bit (sign bit). So, the mantissa is $1.1101_2$. Since the MSB is 1, it's a negative number. Value $= -1 \cdot 2^0 + 1 \cdot 2^{-1} + 1 \cdot 2^{-2} + 0 \cdot 2^{-3} + 1 \cdot 2^{-4}$ Value $= -1 + 0.5 + 0.25 + 0 + 0.0625 = -1 + 0.8125 = -0.1875_{10}$. Step 3: Convert the exponent to its denary equivalent. The exponent $011_2$ is in 2's complement form.