[payne92]

Here’s the issued patent: https://www.google.com/patents/US9817662

Note that it’s a claim on the processing unit implementation (e.g. the FPU), not the method.

Nonetheless, I’d be very surprised if this stands the test of interval arithmetic prior art.

[everybodyknows]

The beauty of the patent is that it will never be tested, being of no practical value, for numerous reasons already mentioned in other comments, plus a few more not worth the bother of going into.

So the inventor gets a patent number for his LinkedIn profile, and USPTO get their fee, and that's the end of it. A win-win for all involved.

Earlier HN discussion of the phenomenon: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16015371

[payne92]

"Win-win"...not at all.

Patents like this have "threat value", which is often happily exploited by "IP monetization" companies, contingent law firms, etc.

This is the kind of stuff that turns into 100x $50k settlement demands.