Abstract: A multiplication unit, such as a photonic multiplication unit, for multiplication of a floating point number is claimed. A first signal is produced representing an exponent of a floating point number mapped onto a frequency of a harmonic wave. A second signal is produced representing a significant of the floating point number mapped onto an amplitude of the harmonic wave to produce a floating point number. There are numerous examples of how the floating point number may be used, such as displayed, stored in a fixed, non-transitory, storage medium for later retrieval, used in a mathematical operation using cascade modulation, used in a mathematical operation using interference, used in a mathematical operation using interference with a comb filter, used in a mathematical operation using cascade operation with summation. The multiplication unit includes is extendable to a multiplication unit for vector, matrix or tensor multiplication using interference or o beam combiner.