The ability to write efficient, high-speed arithmetic routines ultimately depends upon your knowled

The ability to write efficient, high-speed arithmetic routines ultimately depends upon your knowledge of the elements of arithmetic as they exist on a computer. That conclusion and this book are the result of a long and frustrating search for information on writing arithmetic routines for real-time embedded systems. With instruction cycle times coming down and clock rates going up, it would seem that speed is not a problem in writing fast routines. In addition, math coprocessors are becoming more popular and less expensive than ever before and are readily available. These factors make arithmetic easier and faster to use and implement. However, for many of you the systems that you are working on do not include the latest chips or the faster processors. Some of the most widely used microcontrollers used today are not Digital Signal Processors (DSP), but simple eight-bit controllers such as the Intel 8051 or 8048 microprocessors.