FXCH

Microcode inside the Intel 8087 floating-point chip: register exchange

In 1980, Intel introduced the 8087 floating-point chip, a co-processor that made floating-point operations up to 100 times faster. This chip was highly influential, and today most processors use the floating-point standard introduced by the 8087. The 8087 uses complicated algorithms to accurately compute functions such as square roots, tangents, and exponentials.