Small challenge

[brouhaha]

(04-23-2023 02:13 PM)J-F Garnier Wrote:  The implementation of the exponentiation changed between the Capricorn platform (Series 80 / 75C) and the Saturn machines (starting with the 71B).

I don't have direct knowledge of how this stuff evolved inside HP, but from looking at the code, the Saturn math routines appear to be more directly evolved from the Nut math routines. The Capricorn routines may also have done that, but it looks to me like they were a separate development line, rather than being an intermediate step between the Nut and Saturn routines.

Prior to Saturn, the documentation for the math routines was separate from the source code, and apparently included flow charts. I suspect that even for Saturn, there was some additional documentation on the math routines outside the source code. As far as I know, none of HP's internal math routine documentation outside of source code has ever been publicly seen.