Patent ID: 6351760
Filing Date: 2002-02-26
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A method of computing a floating point division operation y/x for floating point operands y and x in a computing device comprising: approximating a value 1/x=Ax2+Bx+C using a piecewise quadratic approximation of a number x and using stored coefficients A, B, and C, the number x having a mantissa and an exponent, the computing operation comprising:accessing the A, B, and C coefficients from a storage; and computing the value Ax2+Bx+C without rounding to produce a result, the result having a mantissa and an exponent; multiplying the approximated value 1/x times the operand y comprising: multiplying the computed value Ax2+Bx+C times the operand y as a multiplier to generate a pre-rounded result; and rounding the pre-rounded result to the nearest value.