The C80287-3 is a numeric coprocessor designed by Intel to enhance the floating-point arithmetic capabilities of the Intel 80286 microprocessor. It is also known as a Floating Point Unit (FPU) or math coprocessor. This chip significantly accelerates mathematical computations, especially those involving floating-point numbers, trigonometric functions, and other complex calculations. The "-3" likely refers to a specific speed grade or revision of the chip.

Applications

• CAD/CAM software.
• Scientific and engineering applications.
• Graphics processing.
• Statistical analysis software.
• Spreadsheet applications.

Features

• Floating-point arithmetic support.
• Trigonometric function calculations.
• Logarithmic function calculations.
• Extended precision arithmetic.
• IEEE 754 floating-point standard compliance.
• Parallel processing with the 80286 CPU.

Benefits

• Significantly faster floating-point calculations compared to software emulation.
• Improved performance in computationally intensive applications.
• Increased accuracy in numerical calculations.
• Offloads complex math operations from the main CPU.
• Enables the use of advanced mathematical functions in software.

Additional Details

The C80287-3 operates in conjunction with the Intel 80286 microprocessor, sharing the system bus and memory. It performs calculations based on instructions sent to it by the main CPU. The coprocessor is housed in a ceramic DIP (Dual In-line Package) and is installed in a dedicated socket on the motherboard. The performance gain provided by the C80287 is substantial for applications heavily reliant on floating-point operations.

The presence of a math coprocessor like the C80287 was crucial for enhancing the performance of early personal computers, especially for demanding scientific and engineering tasks.