The Intriguing Stack Operations

What stack elements remain after the following instructions are executed?

PUSH 4
PUSH 7
PUSH 8
ADD
PUSH 10
SUB
MUL

Final Answer:

After performing the given stack operations, only the element -20 remains on the stack of the stack-oriented processor.

The question involves a stack-oriented processor and the execution of stack operations including PUSH, POP, ADD, SUB, and MUL. Starting with an empty stack, the following operations are performed sequentially:

Explanation:

PUSH 4: Stack now contains [4].
PUSH 7: Stack now contains [7, 4].
PUSH 8: Stack now contains [8, 7, 4].
ADD: Pops the top two elements (8 and 7), adds them (15), and pushes the result: Stack now contains [15, 4].
PUSH 10: Stack now contains [10, 15, 4].
SUB: Pops the top two elements (10 and 15), subtracts them (-5), and pushes the result: Stack now contains [-5, 4].
MUL: Pops the top two elements (-5 and 4), multiplies them (-20), and pushes the result: Stack now contains [-20].
After these instructions are executed, only the element -20 remains on the stack.