Intel 80387
The intel 80387 was a floating point co-processor for intel's 80386dx and 80386sx models of single chip computer.[1] 386 processors used a superset of the 8086 instruction set, including a subset of instructions for floating point operations -- arithmetic operations that might include fractions.
Integer arithmetic requires much less silicon real estate to implement than calculations on values that had a fractional component.[1] Intel off-loaded the hardware to perform those instructions to a co-processor -- a support chip devoted solely to that task.[2] Computers could be equipped with an 8088 or 8086, and without an 8087. If the 8087 were present floating point instructions would be off-loaded and executed relatively quickly, by the 8087.
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Omar Alvarado, Thomas J. Fellers, Michael W. Davidson. "Intel 387 Math Coprocessor". Olympus Micro. Retrieved 2008-11-27.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) mirror
- ↑ "Intel and Floating Point: Updating One of the Industry's Most Successful Standards" (PDF). intel. Retrieved 2008-11-28.