What is a logarithmic microprocessor? It is a computer chip that performs the basic mathematical operations - add, subtract, multiply, divide and square-root - in a radically different way. As a result, it can carry out complex mathematical calculations significantly faster, and also more accurately, than a conventional microprocessor. It opens the way for the implementation of programmes in areas such as graphics, digital filtering, control and communications which have hitherto been impossible to use for practical purposes simply because conventional microprocessors cannot perform the maths quickly enough. Extensive peer-reviewed trials, published in the professional press, demonstrated significant gains in speed and accuracy when compared with the leading commercial alternative.

This device was the major landmark work in an ongoing effort to develop faster, more accurate techniques in computer arithmetic. One drawback was that it required more silicon - a bigger chip - to implement. The next stage in the theoretical work therefore had the objective of reducing this silicon area. Results published in 2016 show that logarithmic arithmetic circuits can now be reduced to the same size as those used in a conventional microprocessor, while also further improving the speed.

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