Hello,
in the latest "Dr. Dobb's Report" e-mail-newsletter Jonathan Ericson mentioned the CORDIC algorithm implemented in the HP-35 and linked to two CORDIC articles from Dr. Dobb's Journal. Alas, I couldn't find the text of the newsletter at http://www.ddj.com. So here is the relevant part: "Unless you're doing something like reverse engineering an HP-35 calculator, you probably don't run across CORDIC algorithms every day. Which makes me wonder why I'm so lucky.
Short for "COordinate Rotation DIgital Computer," the CORDIC algorithm was developed in 1956 by Jack Volder when developing navigation systems for B-58 bombers. In the 1970s, the algorithm found its way into calculators like the HP-35. I didn't stumble across CORDIC algorithms until 1990, when Pitts Jarvis wrote Implementing CORDIC Algorithms, which was followed by Michael Pashea's Microcontrollers & CORDIC Methods in 2000. Ever since then, CORDIC algorithms and I have had a hit-or-miss relationship. Until recently.
Then a day or two ago, I was reading an interesting article by Anthony Williams entitled "Optimizing Math-Intensive Applications with Fixed-Point Arithmetic," which explains how Anthony optimized C code so that helicopters could fly faster and safer. And wouldn't you know it, CORDIC popped up: "The single biggest gain was achieved by optimizing the trigonometric and exponential functions. For the trig functions, the CORDIC method was used."
You can find the first mentioned article "Implementing CORDIC algorithms" at http://www.ddj.com/184408428 and the second article "Microcontrollers & CORDIC Methods" at http://www.ddj.com/184404244
Have fun