ar88lo's blog

Is sqrt calculated in constant time in c++?(how?)
By ar88lo, history, 4 years ago, In English

Hi I was quite sure about this matter until I came across a comment in a old blog that suggested other wise I searched the internet but I didn't find anywhere mentioning anything about logarithmic runtime(and no source said anything about constant time) but I'm just checking

Thanks

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4 years ago, # |
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I guess you can think of binary searching the value of $$$\sqrt{n}$$$, you know that it must range from 1 to $$$n$$$, so it takes $$$log(n)$$$ runtime. Please correct me if I am wrong.

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
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    Thank you Yes I am aware of the log n method but does the built in sqrt() use this algorithm?

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4 years ago, # |
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    4 years ago, # ^ |
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    Please do not post links to offensive sites such as GeeksForGeeks, many of those who visit CodeForces are underage...

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      4 years ago, # ^ |
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      "offensive" as in?

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      4 years ago, # ^ |
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      he is joking, because gfg have many wrong, inaccurate articles.

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4 years ago, # |
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They probably use Newton's Method.

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4 years ago, # |
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sqrt is directly compiled to sqrtsd instruction on x86 starting with -O1. We can only speculate how it works in hardware. It certainly does not use Newton-Raphson method because IEEE-754 requires sqrt to have perfect precision (<= 0.5 ulp). It probably uses a method similar to long division (which is also a speculation, but it makes sense because div and sqrt are implemented in the same hardware unit).

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