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Where Intel Processors Fail At Math (Again)
rastos1 writes: In a recent blog, software developer Bruce Dawson pointed out some issues with the way the FSIN instruction is described in the "Intel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer's Manual," noting that the result of FSIN can be very inaccurate in some cases, if compared to the exact mathematical value of the sine function.
Dawson says, "I was shocked when I discovered this. Both the fsin instruction and Intel's documentation are hugely inaccurate, and the inaccurate documentation has led to poor decisions being made. ... Intel has known for years that these instructions are not as accurate as promised. They are now making updates to their documentation. Updating the instruction is not a realistic option."
Intel processors have had a problem with math in the past, too.
Dawson says, "I was shocked when I discovered this. Both the fsin instruction and Intel's documentation are hugely inaccurate, and the inaccurate documentation has led to poor decisions being made. ... Intel has known for years that these instructions are not as accurate as promised. They are now making updates to their documentation. Updating the instruction is not a realistic option."
Intel processors have had a problem with math in the past, too.
From what I gather, the problem is that Intel didn't acknowledge in documentation how poor the instruction was for scientific use though. This is fine for home and probably most general-purpose business use, but becomes a problem when it's more critical. If those that develop software that relies on sine functionality don't know about this then error in the results of their programs will actually matter.
This won't matter to a gamer playing some first-person shooter.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.