multiplication processing
Pascal Melanson
multiplication is proccess in the microprocessor. I especially need to know
how many instructions it takes.
any help will be greatly appreciated.
--
Pascal Melanson
pas...@eve.info.umoncton.ca
BrainMaster
bx"
If your talking about how my cpu ticks it takes or how many gates it goes
though then it's beyond me.
--
brain_...@hotmail.spam.less.com (take out .spam.less)
Undernet Nick: BrainMast
The Sokos Family
anyways) or are you talking about microprocessors in general?
Pentiums, if I recall correctly, use an array multiplier that is pretty
fast. Integer multiplication is probably a single cycle instruction.
Floating point is a bit slower since it is more complex.
Older microprocessors will usually use a form of what is called Booth's
algorithm. Basically, you can break up any multiply into a series of
add and shift instructions (you can divide doing subtract and shift).
Really old microprocessors won't have a multiply instruction as part
of the cpu's opcode list, so you have to do your own Booth's algorithm
in software.
In some cases the software will use a lookup table rather than do a
multiply. This is only good for small numbers (an 8 bit by 8 bit multiply
takes
a 16 bit lookup table, or 64 K of mem, but a 16 bit by 16 bit lookup table
is 32 bits, which is more memory than most computers have).
Be a bit more specific about what you are looking for and I'll give you
more details.
--
Mark Sokos - Electrical Engineer, Computer Geek
(er, programmer) and no talent bum musician
E-mail: so...@desupernet.net
Web: http://users.desupernet.net/sokos/
comp.arch.hobbyist FAQ, electronics tutorials, etc.
Pascal Melanson wrote in message <7j90bg$8...@sol.sun.csd.unb.ca>...
>Does anybody have any information or links where I could find out how the
>multiplication is proccess in the microprocessor. I especially need to
know
>how many instructions it takes.
>--
>Pascal Melanson
>pas...@eve.info.umoncton.ca