<P> The implementations above transition from fastest and most expensive to slowest and least costly . The square root is calculated in all cases, but processors with simple ALUs will take longer to perform the calculation because multiple ALU operations must be performed . </P> <P> An ALU is usually implemented either as a stand - alone integrated circuit (IC), such as the 74181, or as part of a more complex IC . In the latter case, an ALU is typically instantiated by synthesizing it from a description written in VHDL, Verilog or some other hardware description language . For example, the following VHDL code describes a very simple 8 - bit ALU: </P> <P> Mathematician John von Neumann proposed the ALU concept in 1945 in a report on the foundations for a new computer called the EDVAC . </P> <P> The cost, size, and power consumption of electronic circuitry was relatively high throughout the infancy of the information age . Consequently, all serial computers and many early computers, such as the PDP - 8, had a simple ALU that operated on one data bit at a time, although they often presented a wider word size to programmers . One of the earliest computers to have multiple discrete single - bit ALU circuits was the 1948 Whirlwind I, which employed sixteen of such "math units" to enable it to operate on 16 - bit words . </P>

Who introduced the concept of providing alu in the computer system