hardware multiply/divide functionality in CPUs

[Tony Duell]

> 
> There were math co-processor boards (AM9511, AM9512, for example) for 
> S100 systems.  ISTR that there was even a TRW bipolar (16x16?  Huge 
> chip that ran hot as a pistol) for the S100 bus.

There was am 8*8 (I think) parallel multiplier chip in the 74xxx TTL 
family. 40 pin thing. I've come across it twice. Once in an early 
electronic still camera (to multiply the outptus of the ADC by the values 
storted in a compensation EPROM, and thus handle the non-uniform repsonse 
of the CCD). The other time was in a leased-line modem which seems to 
implement some kind of DSP using this chip and, IIRC, 2900 series.

-tony