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2.11 What is the floating point (FDIV) problem with the Pentium? |
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This item is from the PC Hardware FAQ, by Willie Lim and Ralph Valentino with numerous contributions by others. (v1.25).
Under certain circumstances, based on divisor ranges, mantissa bit 13 and beyond can be incorrect during floating point division. This problem effects the functions:
FDIV, FDIVR, FPTAN, FPATAN, FPREM and FPREM1
in single, double and extended precision modes. Many programs and operating systems are already incorporating software patches to work around the problem. For most users, the accuracy supplied by the Pentium even without a patch is more than enough. However, since the media hype made the problem sound like it would have a serious impact on everyone, Intel has agreed to replace all faulty Pentiums free of charge.
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