VECTOR ARITHMETHIC INSTRUCTION

A data processing system (2) supports vector processing operations performed upon vector operands comprising a plurality of vector operand elements. The data processing system includes a processor (4) having an instruction decoder (14) which decodes mixed-element-sized vector arithmetic instructions to generate control signals (16) which control processing circuitry (18) to perform arithmetic operations upon a first vector of first source operand elements ai of a first bit size A, and a second vector of second source operand elements bj of a second bit size B. The second bit size B is greater than the first bit size A.