arithmetical unit

arithmetical unit

[¦a·rith¦med·ə·kəl ′yü·nət]
(computer science)
The section of the computer which carries out all arithmetic and logic operations. Also known as arithmetical element; arithmetic-logic unit (ALU); arithmetic section; logic-arithmetic unit; logic section.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Mentioned in ?
References in periodicals archive ?
For example, he had independently stepped card mechanisms to control the passage of variables to and from the store and to control the mill, as he called his arithmetical unit. He never arrived at the idea, so obvious to us, to associating an operation code permanently with the name of a variable on the same card.
Charles Babbage - the great uncle of computing?
* If, by carrying out the same calculation on two different machines, the two sets of results differ, it is either because the two arithmetical units do not operate in a similar way, or because the two compilers analyze the expressions in a different way (these two conditions may exist simultaneously).
The subjectivity of computers

Encyclopedia browser ?
Full browser ?