IBM 610 Manual Of Operation

Also see for 610: Technical overview and introduction

IBM 6 10Multiple OperationThe machine provides multiple function instruc-tions for programming simplicity. The Square Rootinstruction accomplishes in one operation what is nor-mally a many instruction subroutine. Divide -Multiplycombines into one operation the division of two fac-tors and multiplication of the quotient by a third.CheckingThe IBM 610 has been designed with reliability asa primary consideration. Conservative circuit designand components chosen for their high reliability areemployed throughout. This computer also uses built-ia self-checking features, which provide further as-surance of accurate results.ister is 9999 99999 99999.9 in auto-point. (Note thatthese two statements are not equivalent. The number10000 00000 00000. is a fifteen-digit number, butit may not be entered into the machine because it isgreater than the maximum allowable magnitude.)The register capacity of thirty-one digits allowsthe machine to position every number with its pointin the middle of the register for operation in theauto-point mode. A storage register may be visualizedas follows:15 Positions 16 Positions.tsign high-order half ofstorage registerlow-order half ofstorage registerADDRESS SYSTEMThe machine is concerned with two basic types ofcommunication — problem data and control infor-mation. Problem data are entered into the machineand stored as magnetic spots on the surface of thedrum. In order for these data to be used they must bestored and retrieved from the same physical location.A system of numerical addresses plus checking andtiming circuitry allows the operator to locate datafor input, output and computations. The idea is anal-ogous to an automatic parking lot in which cars aremechanically stored in numbered slots and retrievedagain from the same slot.RegisterWithin the machine, data are stored on the drumin 84 addressable locations called registers. Each ofthe registers has an address: These addresses are 00,01 79, plus special registers A, MP, MC, DIV(to be explained later). This permits retrieval andstorage of information during calculation. Each ofthese locations has a capacity of up to 31 digits plusalgebraic sign and radix point.Numbers up to fifteen digits in length, plus pointand sign, may be entered into any storage register.The largest magnitude that can be entered into a reg-The first position to the left contains the sign ofthe number. If this position contains a 0, the sign ofthe number is positive; if this position contains a 9,the sign of the number is negative.The storage register may be thought of as dividedinto two parts as indicated by the space in the middleof the register. When the machine is operatingin auto-point, the integer portion of a number isin the left half or high-order half of the register. Thefractional portion of the number is contained in theright half or the low order of the register. The decimalpoint is stored in combination with the first digit inthe lower half of the register. The number stored inthis manner is said to be in right-hand standard posi-tion. During operation in the auto-point mode, it ispermissible to move a number out of the right-handstandard position. However, before any arithmeticoperations can be correctly performed in the auto-point mode, the number must be returned to theright-hand standard position.A number is said to be in left-hand standard posi-tion if the first significant (non-zero) digit has beenmoved to the first position to the right of the signposition, or if the decimal point has been moved tothe first position to the right of the sign position.