Exact certificates from bounded comparisons #
The exponent search preserves a bracket between powers of two. The significand search preserves a bracket between consecutive integers. Exact comparison at the integer and its half-integer supplies the accuracy certificate consumed by the existing rounding proof.
A sufficiently deep bounded search ends at adjacent candidates enclosing the target. Only exact comparison and an initial bracket are needed; the proof follows both search branches.
The first search locates consecutive powers of two around the exact target.
Comparisons with the integer and half-integer determine a valid accuracy certificate.
The second search returns the exact integer part of the scaled magnitude.
Two guard bits suffice for a positive truncated mantissa throughout the search interval.
Every interior oracle result supplies a valid nonzero accuracy certificate and satisfies the normalizer's no-left-shift precondition. All bounds depend on the descriptor, not a fixed width.