### A good answer might be:

No. Same problem as with the `j` instruction.

# Ifs and Whiles

More trickery is used to create a 32-bit branch address out of the smaller sized field of the `beq` instruction. But let's skip that for now.

Branch instructions (including the `beq` instruction) are used to implement both loops and branches. At right is a flowchart showing an optional branch. Here is the assembly language for it:

            ...                # load values into $8 and $9
            beq  $8,$9,cont    # branch if equal
            sll  $0,$0,0       # branch delay slot
            ...                # conditionally
            ...                # executed
            ...                # statements
    cont:   add   $10,$10,$11  # always executed

(Any instruction can be a target of a branch. The `add` instruction is here just as an example.)

### QUESTION 11:

Must the contents of registers $8 and $9 in this example be regarded as numbers?