&gt;Java choosing IEEE754 floating point. Which isn&#x27;t natively supported on x86.<p>IEEE754 was based on the design of the 8087, and it&#x27;s been native on x86 since the 80387.<p>The problem with Java choosing IEEE754 was, according to the paper you linked, not that it wasn&#x27;t supported on all hardware, but that Java didn&#x27;t follow the spec completely,<p>&quot;Later we shall see why Java’s  expanded market would be served better by actual conformity to the letter and spirit of IEEE Standard 754&quot;