Glossary for Geospatial Science

coprocessor:� Older microcomputers used for heavy computational tasks had a second microprocessor, called a math coprocessor.� To speed things up, the main CPU assigned its tedious arithmetic to this helpful specialist in much the same way that modern accountants use calculators for the computations their grandfathers did by hand.� In the Intel CPU series, the main processor�s chip number ended with the digit 6 and the coprocessor�s chip number is the same except for the final digit 7: 80286 / 80287; 80386 / 80387.� Since the 80486, Intel has included the math coprocessor in the basic design.� (Thus there was no 80487).