DATA PROCESSOR HAVING CARRY APPARATUS SUPPORTING A DECIMAL DIVIDE OPERATION

摘要

A commercial instruction processor executes a decimal divide instruction by counting the number of subtractions by the divisor resulting in a positive remainder to develop the quotient. Apparatus compares the most significant decimal digit of the divisor with the most significant decimal digit of the remainder after each subtraction pass to predict if the next subtraction pass would result in a negative remainder. If so, a quotient decimal digit is stored in a memory, the divisor is shifted one decimal digit position to the right, and a series of subtraction passes are made to develop the next quotient decimal digit.