At the same time, {TAIL ~ the exponent portions} of the first operand and {HEAD ~ the second operand} are compared by exponent processing circuitry 18 
At the same time , { TAIL ~ the exponent portions } of the first operand and { HEAD ~ the second operand } are compared by exponent processing circuitry 18
OTH OTH OTH OTH OTH TAIL TAIL TAIL TAIL TAIL TAIL TAIL OTH OTH OTH OTH OTH HEAD HEAD HEAD HEAD HEAD HEAD HEAD OTH OTH OTH OTH OTH OTH OTH