Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!jk3k+
From: jk3k+@andrew.cmu.edu (Joe Keane)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: hardware complex arithmetic support
Message-ID: <kYtuglW00V4G01l=ZK@andrew.cmu.edu>
Date: 15 Aug 89 05:33:37 GMT
Organization: Mathematics, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Lines: 10

Here's a possibly stupid question, but i've never seen anything about this.

Are there any architectures that have hardware support for complex arithmetic?
For example, dividing two complex numbers (in rectangular form) takes 6
multiplications, 2 divisions, and 3 add/subtracts, if i count correctly.  With
appropriate functional units that can be hooked up in the right way, this could
be done in a couple of clock cycles.

Are there machines with complex arithmetic instructions?  In a more RISC vein,
what instructions are out there that can be used for fast complex arithmetic?