Q&A: THE PENTIUM FDIV BUG

 Q: How many Pentium designers does it take to screw in a light bulb?
 A: 1.99904274017, but that's close enough for non-technical people.
 Q: What do you get when you cross a Pentium PC with a research grant?
 A: A mad scientist.
 Q: What's another name for the "Intel Inside" sticker they put on Pentiums?
 A: The warning label.
 Q: What do you call a series of FDIV instructions on a Pentium?
 A: Successive approximations.
 Q: Complete the following word analogy: Add is to Subtract as Multiply is to:
    1)  Divide
    2)  Round
    3)  Random
    4)  On a Pentium, all of the above
 A: Number 4
 Q: What algorithm did Intel use in the Pentium's floating point divider?
 A: "Life is like a box of chocolates." (Source: F. Gump of Intel)
 Q: Why didn't Intel call the Pentium the 586?
 A: Because they added 486 and 100 on the first Pentium and got 585.999983605.
 Q: According to Intel, the Pentium conforms to the IEEE standards 754 and 854
 for the floating point arithmetic. If you fly in an aircraft designed using a
 Pentium, what is the correct pronuciation of "IEEE"?
 A: Aaaaaaaiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeee!
 
 TOP TEN NEW SLOGANS FOR THE PENTIUM
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 9.9999973251   It's a FLAW, Dammit, not a Bug.
 8.9999163362   It's Close Enough, We Say So
 7.9999414610   Nearly 300 Correct Opcodes
 6.9999831538   You Don't Need to Know What's Inside
 5.9999835137   Redefining the PC -- and Mathematics As Well
 4.9999999021   We Fixed It, Really
 3.9998245917   Division Considered Harmful
 2.9991523619   Why Do You Think They Call It *Floating* Point?
 1.9999103517   We're Looking for a Few Good Flaws
 0.9999999998   The Errata Inside
  

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