The Arithmetic Logic Unit

-The Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) is essentially the heart of a CPU.
-This is what allows the computer to add, subtract, and to perform basic logical operations such as AND/OR. Since every computer needs to be able to do these simple functions, they are always included in a CPU.

SYMBOL OF ALU

Functions of Arithmetic Logic Unit:

• Almost all the actions of the computer are done by it. It gets its data from a certain computer memory called processor register . After the data gets processed, its results get stored in output registers of the arithmetic logic unit .

• The arithmetic logic unit can perform integer arithmetic operations like addition, subtraction, etc.

• It can also perform bitwise logic operations like AND, OR, XOR, etc.

• The arithmetic logic unit performs bit-shifting operations like rotating or shifting a certain word to either the left or the right by a given number of bits. These can also be represented as divisions by 2 and also multiplications by 2. These are the simple operations carried out by the arithmetic logic unit .