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<hardware> (FPA) Additional hardware to perform functions on floating point numbers such as addition, multiplication, logarithms, exponentials, trigonometric functions and various kinds of rounding and error detection. A floating point accelerator often functions as a co-processor to the CPU.
The term "floating-point accelerator" suggests a physically larger system, often an extra circuit board, whereas a "floating-point unit" is probably a single chip or even part of a chip.
(1994-12-01)
Nearby terms: float « floater « floating-point « floating-point accelerator » Floating-Point SPECbaserate » Floating-Point SPECbaseratio » Floating-Point SPECrate
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