COMPAQ POSITION PAPER -- INTEL PENTIUM FLOATING POINT UNIT FLAW December
05, 1994

(From Compaq Corp's World Wide Web Server, redistributed with permission --
see copyright notice below)
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BACKGROUND

Recent reports in the news media and in the worldwide on-line
communications services (Internet, CompuServe, Prodigy and America Online)
have voiced a growing concern over a flaw in all current Intel Pentium
microprocessors. The flaw is in the "floating point unit" (FPU) of the
microprocessor and can have an effect on combinations of certain numbers
divided by certain numbers. The flaw does not affect non-numeric
applications like word processors, but has some possibility of error for
numeric applications like spreadsheets, engineering, and graphics
applications. Like a safecracker randomly spinning for the right
combination of a bank vault, the chance of a user hitting on just the
right numbers to divide is extremely remote.

TECHNICAL SUMMARY

The Intel Pentium processors' flaw in their floating point unit can result
in reduced precision when performing floating point divide operations
using some pairs of operands (one number divided by another). The specific
pairs of operands that exhibit this reduced precision are extremely rare
-- about one in nine billion.

The actual cause and conditions to encounter the flaw are very well
understood at the "bit and byte" hardware level. What is harder to
quantify and to communicate is how this flaw affects applications and how
they are used. In general, if it can be assumed that two numbers being
divided are randomly selected, then precision is affected in about 1 out
of every 9 billion operations. The question then becomes, "how many
division operations does an application perform in a given amount of time,
and how significant is the effect of lost precision?" Intel has stated
that the average spreadsheet user would experience a loss in precision
once in 27,000 years. This is derived from Intel's assumption that the
average spreadsheet user performs about 1000 divide operations per day.
Assuming 333 days of use per year, 9 billion divided by 1000 and then by
333 yields the 27,000 year result. Intel has done a more elaborate study
for more scientific applications that yields other MTBF (mean time to
failure) time periods.

COMPAQ POSITION

The Compaq brand has always been synonymous with customer satisfaction. We
stand behind our products and our customers and will work with our
customers to resolve any concerns with their Compaq products that contain
flawed Pentium microprocessors from Intel.

We have already undertaken some steps to assist customers, and we will
continue to work with them to ensure their satisfaction with our products.
Compaq has developed a range of alternatives available to customers that
are tailored to address their specific needs.

First, Compaq will replace free of charge flawed Pentium microprocessors in
its products for any customer that may be affected. We have been working
with our customers to identify products being used in critical
numeric-intensive calculation environments, and we have already begun to
replace flawed Pentium processors for customers with such units.

Second, Compaq has set up a separate telephone hotline option for its
customers to call for information relating to the flawed Pentium processor
and to resolve specific issues or concerns they may have regarding their
Compaq products. The hotline number is 1-800-345-1518.

Finally, Compaq will be disseminating informational materials along with
recommendations based on Compaq's own testing and research on the
worldwide on-line services (such as Internet, Compuserve, Prodigy, America
OnLine, PaqFax, etc.). Please check back with our on-line services for
these documents.
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Copyright 1994 Compaq Computer Corporation.

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