1. A Fourier transform architecture comprising: a programmable butterfly component configured to perform a plurality of radix butterfly calculations; a bank memory coupled to the butterfly component, the bank memory configured to separate even from odd sample data; a programmable address generation unit (AGU) coupled to the bank memory to enable the architecture to perform calculations including of Fourier-based and non-Fourier based algorithms; and one or more computer memories configured to store complex numbers, each computer memory configured to hold: a plurality of bits representing a signed mantissa of a real component of a represented complex number; a plurality of bits representing a signed mantissa of an imaginary component of the represented complex number; and a plurality of bits representing a first exponent corresponding to a base number associated with the complex number, the first exponent configured to correspond to both the real component and the imaginary component of the complex number.