More on Pentium

[Tucker Balch]

PENTIUM FLAW HAS SOME SCIENTISTS STEAMED
A defect in Intel's Pentium chip can cause computers to reach incorrect
answers in complex division problems that make use of the chip's floating
point processor. Intel says it discovered the problem early last summer and
has changed its production process to eliminate it, but since its public
disclosure in the Nov. 7 Electrical Engineering Times, the Internet has
been clogged with angry messages from scientists and engineers who feel
Intel has been a little too cavalier in its response to the problem. "The
chip is fine. Statistically, the average person might see this problem once
in every 27,000 years," says an Intel spokesman. (Wall Street Journal
11/25/94 B4)