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[Phys-L] Re: Division via subtractions



At 11:45 PM 2/9/2005, Stefan Jeglinski wrote:
... interested
readers may chew on this fairly concise example:

http://www.clipx.net/ng/tmslink/ng52afb.php

In which the process is described as both [similar to] long division
-and- repeated subtraction. Regardless, the process involves one
"subtraction operation" per bit, so even though it is much more
expensive than multiplication, it is not a 2^N process.
...
Stefan Jeglinski


This method is reminiscent of the divide method used in the AEI 1010
which reached a production run of perhaps twelve (1962)
That 44 bit machine shifted the smaller operand to place the most
significant bit of both operands in similar positions, and subtracting,
allowed a negative or positive result with differing adjustments before
shifting again. There could be a shift and subtract, but not 2^44
times certainly! This is not what you would rationally call a repeated
(simple) subtraction process - and neither is the process described
by Stefan.



Brian Whatcott Altus OK Eureka!