ABSTRACT
Division is one of the basic arithmetic operations supported by every computer system. The operation can be performed and implemented by either hardware or software, or by a combination of the two. Although division is not as frequent as addition and multiplication, nowadays, most processors implement it in hardware to not compromise the overall computation performances. This entry explains the basic algorithms, suitable for hardware and software, to implement division in computer systems. Two classes of algorithms implement division or square root: digit-recurrence and multiplicative (e.g., Newton–Raphson) algorithms. The first class of algorithms, the digit-recurrence type, is particularly suitable for hardware implementation as it requires modest resources and provides good performance on contemporary technology. The second class of algorithms, the multiplicative type, requires significant hardware resources and is more suitable for software implementation on the existing multiply units. The purpose of this entry is to provide an introductory survey using a presentation style suitable for the interested non-specialist readers as well.
