Title :
Computational aspects of the Pentium affair
Author :
Coe, Tim ; Mathisen, Terje ; Moler, Cleve ; Pratt, Vaughan
Author_Institution :
Vitesse Semicond. Corp., Camarillo, CA, USA
Abstract :
The Pentium affair has been widely publicized. It started with an obscure defect in the floating-point unit of Intel Corporation´s flagship Pentium microprocessor. This is the story of how the Pentium floating-point division problem was discovered, and what you need to know about the maths and computer engineering involved before deciding whether to replace the chip, install the workaround provided here, or do nothing. The paper also discusses broader issues of computational correctness
Keywords :
floating point arithmetic; microprocessor chips; Intel Corporation; Pentium affair; Pentium microprocessor; computational aspects; computational correctness; computer engineering; floating-point division problem; floating-point unit; Application software; Computer aided instruction; Floating-point arithmetic; Internet; Marketing and sales; Mathematics; Microprocessors; Silicon; Surges; TV;
Journal_Title :
Computational Science & Engineering, IEEE
