Fastest way to determine if an integer's squar

Question

I'm looking for the fastest way to determine if a long value is a perfect square (i.e. its square root is another integer):

1. I've done it the easy way, by using the built-in Math.sqrt() function, but I'm wondering if there is a way to do it faster by restricting yourself to integer-only domain.
2. Maintaining a lookup table is impractical (since there are about 2^31.5 integers whose square is less than 2⁶³).

Here is the very simple and straightforward way I'm doing it now:

public final static boolean isPerfectSquare(long n)
{
  if (n < 0)
    return false;

  long tst = (long)(Math.sqrt(n) + 0.5);
  return tst*tst == n;
}

_{Note: I'm using this function in many Project Euler problems. So no one else will ever have to maintain this code. And this kind of micro-optimization could actually make a difference, since part of the challenge is to do every algorithm in less than a minute, and this function will need to be called millions of times in some problems.}

---

I've tried the different solutions to the problem:

• After exhaustive testing, I found that adding 0.5 to the result of Math.sqrt() is not necessary, at least not on my machine.
• The fast inverse square root was faster, but it gave incorrect results for n >= 410881. However, as suggested by BobbyShaftoe, we can use the FISR hack for n < 410881.
• Newton's method was a good bit slower than Math.sqrt(). This is probably because Math.sqrt() uses something similar to Newton's Method, but implemented in the hardware so it's much faster than in Java. Also, Newton's Method still required use of doubles.
• A modified Newton's method, which used a few tricks so that only integer math was involved, required some hacks to avoid overflow (I want this function to work with all positive 64-bit signed integers), and it was still slower than Math.sqrt().
• Binary chop was even slower. This makes sense because the binary chop will on average require 16 passes to find the square root of a 64-bit number.
• According to John's tests, using or statements is faster in C++ than using a switch, but in Java and C# there appears to be no difference between or and switch.
• I also tried making a lookup table (as a private static array of 64 boolean values). Then instead of either switch or or statement, I would just say if(lookup[(int)(n&0x3F)]) { test } else return false;. To my surprise, this was (just slightly) slower. This is because array bounds are checked in Java.

Answer 1

Considering for general bit length (though I have used specific type here), I tried to design simplistic algo as below. Simple and obvious check for 0,1,2 or <0 is required initially. Following is simple in sense that it doesn't try to use any existing maths functions. Most of the operator can be replaced with bit-wise operators. I haven't tested with any bench mark data though. I'm neither expert at maths or computer algorithm design in particular, I would love to see you pointing out problem. I know there is lots of improvement chances there.

int main()
{
    unsigned int c1=0 ,c2 = 0;  
    unsigned int x = 0;  
    unsigned int p = 0;  
    int k1 = 0;  
    scanf("%d",&p);  
    if(p % 2 == 0) {  
        x = p/2; 
    }  
    else {  
        x = (p/2) +1;  
    }  
    while(x) 
    {
        if((x*x) > p) {  
            c1 = x;  
            x = x/2; 
        }else {  
            c2 = x;  
            break;  
        }  
    }  
    if((p%2) != 0)  
        c2++;

    while(c2 < c1) 
    {  
        if((c2 * c2 ) == p) {  
            k1 = 1;  
            break;  
        }  
        c2++; 
    }  
    if(k1)  
        printf("\n Perfect square for %d", c2);  
    else  
        printf("\n Not perfect but nearest to :%d :", c2);  
    return 0;  
}  

Answer 2

I figured out a method that works ~35% faster than your 6bits+Carmack+sqrt code, at least with my CPU (x86) and programming language (C/C++). Your results may vary, especially because I don't know how the Java factor will play out.

My approach is threefold:

1. First, filter out obvious answers. This includes negative numbers and looking at the last 4 bits. (I found looking at the last six didn't help.) I also answer yes for 0. (In reading the code below, note that my input is int64 x.)

   if( x < 0 || (x&2) || ((x & 7) == 5) || ((x & 11) == 8) )
       return false;
   if( x == 0 )
       return true;

2. Next, check if it's a square modulo 255 = 3 * 5 * 17. Because that's a product of three distinct primes, only about 1/8 of the residues mod 255 are squares. However, in my experience, calling the modulo operator (%) costs more than the benefit one gets, so I use bit tricks involving 255 = 2^8-1 to compute the residue. (For better or worse, I am not using the trick of reading individual bytes out of a word, only bitwise-and and shifts.)

   int64 y = x;
   y = (y & 4294967295LL) + (y >> 32); 
   y = (y & 65535) + (y >> 16);
   y = (y & 255) + ((y >> 8) & 255) + (y >> 16);
   // At this point, y is between 0 and 511.  More code can reduce it farther.
   

   To actually check if the residue is a square, I look up the answer in a precomputed table.

   if( bad255[y] )
       return false;
   // However, I just use a table of size 512
   

3. Finally, try to compute the square root using a method similar to Hensel's lemma. (I don't think it's applicable directly, but it works with some modifications.) Before doing that, I divide out all powers of 2 with a binary search:

   if((x & 4294967295LL) == 0)
       x >>= 32;
   if((x & 65535) == 0)
       x >>= 16;
   if((x & 255) == 0)
       x >>= 8;
   if((x & 15) == 0)
       x >>= 4;
   if((x & 3) == 0)
       x >>= 2;

   At this point, for our number to be a square, it must be 1 mod 8.

   if((x & 7) != 1)
       return false;

   The basic structure of Hensel's lemma is the following. (Note: untested code; if it doesn't work, try t=2 or 8.)

   int64 t = 4, r = 1;
   t <<= 1; r += ((x - r * r) & t) >> 1;
   t <<= 1; r += ((x - r * r) & t) >> 1;
   t <<= 1; r += ((x - r * r) & t) >> 1;
   // Repeat until t is 2^33 or so.  Use a loop if you want.

   The idea is that at each iteration, you add one bit onto r, the "current" square root of x; each square root is accurate modulo a larger and larger power of 2, namely t/2. At the end, r and t/2-r will be square roots of x modulo t/2. (Note that if r is a square root of x, then so is -r. This is true even modulo numbers, but beware, modulo some numbers, things can have even more than 2 square roots; notably, this includes powers of 2.) Because our actual square root is less than 2^32, at that point we can actually just check if r or t/2-r are real square roots. In my actual code, I use the following modified loop:

   int64 r, t, z;
   r = start[(x >> 3) & 1023];
   do {
       z = x - r * r;
       if( z == 0 )
           return true;
       if( z < 0 )
           return false;
       t = z & (-z);
       r += (z & t) >> 1;
       if( r > (t >> 1) )
           r = t - r;
   } while( t <= (1LL << 33) );

   The speedup here is obtained in three ways: precomputed start value (equivalent to ~10 iterations of the loop), earlier exit of the loop, and skipping some t values. For the last part, I look at z = r - x * x, and set t to be the largest power of 2 dividing z with a bit trick. This allows me to skip t values that wouldn't have affected the value of r anyway. The precomputed start value in my case picks out the "smallest positive" square root modulo 8192.

Even if this code doesn't work faster for you, I hope you enjoy some of the ideas it contains. Complete, tested code follows, including the precomputed tables.

typedef signed long long int int64;

int start[1024] =
{1,3,1769,5,1937,1741,7,1451,479,157,9,91,945,659,1817,11,
1983,707,1321,1211,1071,13,1479,405,415,1501,1609,741,15,339,1703,203,
129,1411,873,1669,17,1715,1145,1835,351,1251,887,1573,975,19,1127,395,
1855,1981,425,453,1105,653,327,21,287,93,713,1691,1935,301,551,587,
257,1277,23,763,1903,1075,1799,1877,223,1437,1783,859,1201,621,25,779,
1727,573,471,1979,815,1293,825,363,159,1315,183,27,241,941,601,971,
385,131,919,901,273,435,647,1493,95,29,1417,805,719,1261,1177,1163,
1599,835,1367,315,1361,1933,1977,747,31,1373,1079,1637,1679,1581,1753,1355,
513,1539,1815,1531,1647,205,505,1109,33,1379,521,1627,1457,1901,1767,1547,
1471,1853,1833,1349,559,1523,967,1131,97,35,1975,795,497,1875,1191,1739,
641,1149,1385,133,529,845,1657,725,161,1309,375,37,463,1555,615,1931,
1343,445,937,1083,1617,883,185,1515,225,1443,1225,869,1423,1235,39,1973,
769,259,489,1797,1391,1485,1287,341,289,99,1271,1701,1713,915,537,1781,
1215,963,41,581,303,243,1337,1899,353,1245,329,1563,753,595,1113,1589,
897,1667,407,635,785,1971,135,43,417,1507,1929,731,207,275,1689,1397,
1087,1725,855,1851,1873,397,1607,1813,481,163,567,101,1167,45,1831,1205,
1025,1021,1303,1029,1135,1331,1017,427,545,1181,1033,933,1969,365,1255,1013,
959,317,1751,187,47,1037,455,1429,609,1571,1463,1765,1009,685,679,821,
1153,387,1897,1403,1041,691,1927,811,673,227,137,1499,49,1005,103,629,
831,1091,1449,1477,1967,1677,697,1045,737,1117,1737,667,911,1325,473,437,
1281,1795,1001,261,879,51,775,1195,801,1635,759,165,1871,1645,1049,245,
703,1597,553,955,209,1779,1849,661,865,291,841,997,1265,1965,1625,53,
1409,893,105,1925,1297,589,377,1579,929,1053,1655,1829,305,1811,1895,139,
575,189,343,709,1711,1139,1095,277,993,1699,55,1435,655,1491,1319,331,
1537,515,791,507,623,1229,1529,1963,1057,355,1545,603,1615,1171,743,523,
447,1219,1239,1723,465,499,57,107,1121,989,951,229,1521,851,167,715,
1665,1923,1687,1157,1553,1869,1415,1749,1185,1763,649,1061,561,531,409,907,
319,1469,1961,59,1455,141,1209,491,1249,419,1847,1893,399,211,985,1099,
1793,765,1513,1275,367,1587,263,1365,1313,925,247,1371,1359,109,1561,1291,
191,61,1065,1605,721,781,1735,875,1377,1827,1353,539,1777,429,1959,1483,
1921,643,617,389,1809,947,889,981,1441,483,1143,293,817,749,1383,1675,
63,1347,169,827,1199,1421,583,1259,1505,861,457,1125,143,1069,807,1867,
2047,2045,279,2043,111,307,2041,597,1569,1891,2039,1957,1103,1389,231,2037,
65,1341,727,837,977,2035,569,1643,1633,547,439,1307,2033,1709,345,1845,
1919,637,1175,379,2031,333,903,213,1697,797,1161,475,1073,2029,921,1653,
193,67,1623,1595,943,1395,1721,2027,1761,1955,1335,357,113,1747,1497,1461,
1791,771,2025,1285,145,973,249,171,1825,611,265,1189,847,1427,2023,1269,
321,1475,1577,69,1233,755,1223,1685,1889,733,1865,2021,1807,1107,1447,1077,
1663,1917,1129,1147,1775,1613,1401,555,1953,2019,631,1243,1329,787,871,885,
449,1213,681,1733,687,115,71,1301,2017,675,969,411,369,467,295,693,
1535,509,233,517,401,1843,1543,939,2015,669,1527,421,591,147,281,501,
577,195,215,699,1489,525,1081,917,1951,2013,73,1253,1551,173,857,309,
1407,899,663,1915,1519,1203,391,1323,1887,739,1673,2011,1585,493,1433,117,
705,1603,1111,965,431,1165,1863,533,1823,605,823,1179,625,813,2009,75,
1279,1789,1559,251,657,563,761,1707,1759,1949,777,347,335,1133,1511,267,
833,1085,2007,1467,1745,1805,711,149,1695,803,1719,485,1295,1453,935,459,
1151,381,1641,1413,1263,77,1913,2005,1631,541,119,1317,1841,1773,359,651,
961,323,1193,197,175,1651,441,235,1567,1885,1481,1947,881,2003,217,843,
1023,1027,745,1019,913,717,1031,1621,1503,867,1015,1115,79,1683,793,1035,
1089,1731,297,1861,2001,1011,1593,619,1439,477,585,283,1039,1363,1369,1227,
895,1661,151,645,1007,1357,121,1237,1375,1821,1911,549,1999,1043,1945,1419,
1217,957,599,571,81,371,1351,1003,1311,931,311,1381,1137,723,1575,1611,
767,253,1047,1787,1169,1997,1273,853,1247,413,1289,1883,177,403,999,1803,
1345,451,1495,1093,1839,269,199,1387,1183,1757,1207,1051,783,83,423,1995,
639,1155,1943,123,751,1459,1671,469,1119,995,393,219,1743,237,153,1909,
1473,1859,1705,1339,337,909,953,1771,1055,349,1993,613,1393,557,729,1717,
511,1533,1257,1541,1425,819,519,85,991,1693,503,1445,433,877,1305,1525,
1601,829,809,325,1583,1549,1991,1941,927,1059,1097,1819,527,1197,1881,1333,
383,125,361,891,495,179,633,299,863,285,1399,987,1487,1517,1639,1141,
1729,579,87,1989,593,1907,839,1557,799,1629,201,155,1649,1837,1063,949,
255,1283,535,773,1681,461,1785,683,735,1123,1801,677,689,1939,487,757,
1857,1987,983,443,1327,1267,313,1173,671,221,695,1509,271,1619,89,565,
127,1405,1431,1659,239,1101,1159,1067,607,1565,905,1755,1231,1299,665,373,
1985,701,1879,1221,849,627,1465,789,543,1187,1591,923,1905,979,1241,181};

bool bad255[512] =
{0,0,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,0,1,0,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,
 1,1,0,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,0,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,
 0,1,0,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,
 1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,
 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,
 1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,0,1,0,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,0,1,1,
 1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,
 1,0,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,
 0,0,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,0,1,0,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,
 1,1,0,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,0,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,
 0,1,0,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,
 1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,
 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,
 1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,0,1,0,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,0,1,1,
 1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,
 1,0,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,
 0,0};

inline bool square( int64 x ) {
    // Quickfail
    if( x < 0 || (x&2) || ((x & 7) == 5) || ((x & 11) == 8) )
        return false;
    if( x == 0 )
        return true;

    // Check mod 255 = 3 * 5 * 17, for fun
    int64 y = x;
    y = (y & 4294967295LL) + (y >> 32);
    y = (y & 65535) + (y >> 16);
    y = (y & 255) + ((y >> 8) & 255) + (y >> 16);
    if( bad255[y] )
        return false;

    // Divide out powers of 4 using binary search
    if((x & 4294967295LL) == 0)
        x >>= 32;
    if((x & 65535) == 0)
        x >>= 16;
    if((x & 255) == 0)
        x >>= 8;
    if((x & 15) == 0)
        x >>= 4;
    if((x & 3) == 0)
        x >>= 2;

    if((x & 7) != 1)
        return false;

    // Compute sqrt using something like Hensel's lemma
    int64 r, t, z;
    r = start[(x >> 3) & 1023];
    do {
        z = x - r * r;
        if( z == 0 )
            return true;
        if( z < 0 )
            return false;
        t = z & (-z);
        r += (z & t) >> 1;
        if( r > (t  >> 1) )
            r = t - r;
    } while( t <= (1LL << 33) );

    return false;
}

Answer 3

If speed is a concern, why not partition off the most commonly used set of inputs and their values to a lookup table and then do whatever optimized magic algorithm you have come up with for the exceptional cases?

Answer 4

I ran my own analysis of several of the algorithms in this thread and came up with some new results. You can see those old results in the edit history of this answer, but they're not accurate, as I made a mistake, and wasted time analyzing several algorithms which aren't close. However, pulling lessons from several different answers, I now have two algorithms that crush the "winner" of this thread. Here's the core thing I do differently than everyone else:

// This is faster because a number is divisible by 2^4 or more only 6% of the time
// and more than that a vanishingly small percentage.
while((x & 0x3) == 0) x >>= 2;
// This is effectively the same as the switch-case statement used in the original
// answer. 
if((x & 0x7) != 1) return false;

However, this simple line, which most of the time adds one or two very fast instructions, greatly simplifies the switch-case statement into one if statement. However, it can add to the runtime if many of the tested numbers have significant power-of-two factors.

The algorithms below are as follows:

• Internet - Kip's posted answer
• Durron - My modified answer using the one-pass answer as a base
• DurronTwo - My modified answer using the two-pass answer (by @JohnnyHeggheim), with some other slight modifications.

Here is a sample runtime if the numbers are generated using Math.abs(java.util.Random.nextLong())

 0% Scenario{vm=java, trial=0, benchmark=Internet} 39673.40 ns; ?=378.78 ns @ 3 trials
33% Scenario{vm=java, trial=0, benchmark=Durron} 37785.75 ns; ?=478.86 ns @ 10 trials
67% Scenario{vm=java, trial=0, benchmark=DurronTwo} 35978.10 ns; ?=734.10 ns @ 10 trials

benchmark   us linear runtime
 Internet 39.7 ==============================
   Durron 37.8 ============================
DurronTwo 36.0 ===========================

vm: java
trial: 0

And here is a sample runtime if it's run on the first million longs only:

 0% Scenario{vm=java, trial=0, benchmark=Internet} 2933380.84 ns; ?=56939.84 ns @ 10 trials
33% Scenario{vm=java, trial=0, benchmark=Durron} 2243266.81 ns; ?=50537.62 ns @ 10 trials
67% Scenario{vm=java, trial=0, benchmark=DurronTwo} 3159227.68 ns; ?=10766.22 ns @ 3 trials

benchmark   ms linear runtime
 Internet 2.93 ===========================
   Durron 2.24 =====================
DurronTwo 3.16 ==============================

vm: java
trial: 0

As you can see, DurronTwo does better for large inputs, because it gets to use the magic trick very very often, but gets clobbered compared to the first algorithm and Math.sqrt because the numbers are so much smaller. Meanwhile, the simpler Durron is a huge winner because it never has to divide by 4 many many times in the first million numbers.

Here's Durron:

public final static boolean isPerfectSquareDurron(long n) {
    if(n < 0) return false;
    if(n == 0) return true;

    long x = n;
    // This is faster because a number is divisible by 16 only 6% of the time
    // and more than that a vanishingly small percentage.
    while((x & 0x3) == 0) x >>= 2;
    // This is effectively the same as the switch-case statement used in the original
    // answer. 
    if((x & 0x7) == 1) {

        long sqrt;
        if(x < 410881L)
        {
            int i;
            float x2, y;

            x2 = x * 0.5F;
            y  = x;
            i  = Float.floatToRawIntBits(y);
            i  = 0x5f3759df - ( i >> 1 );
            y  = Float.intBitsToFloat(i);
            y  = y * ( 1.5F - ( x2 * y * y ) );

            sqrt = (long)(1.0F/y);
        } else {
            sqrt = (long) Math.sqrt(x);
        }
        return sqrt*sqrt == x;
    }
    return false;
}

And DurronTwo

public final static boolean isPerfectSquareDurronTwo(long n) {
    if(n < 0) return false;
    // Needed to prevent infinite loop
    if(n == 0) return true;

    long x = n;
    while((x & 0x3) == 0) x >>= 2;
    if((x & 0x7) == 1) {
        long sqrt;
        if (x < 41529141369L) {
            int i;
            float x2, y;

            x2 = x * 0.5F;
            y = x;
            i = Float.floatToRawIntBits(y);
            //using the magic number from 
            //http://www.lomont.org/Math/Papers/2003/InvSqrt.pdf
            //since it more accurate
            i = 0x5f375a86 - (i >> 1);
            y = Float.intBitsToFloat(i);
            y = y * (1.5F - (x2 * y * y));
            y = y * (1.5F - (x2 * y * y)); //Newton iteration, more accurate
            sqrt = (long) ((1.0F/y) + 0.2);
        } else {
            //Carmack hack gives incorrect answer for n >= 41529141369.
            sqrt = (long) Math.sqrt(x);
        }
        return sqrt*sqrt == x;
    }
    return false;
}

And my benchmark harness: (Requires Google caliper 0.1-rc5)

public class SquareRootBenchmark {
    public static class Benchmark1 extends SimpleBenchmark {
        private static final int ARRAY_SIZE = 10000;
        long[] trials = new long[ARRAY_SIZE];

        @Override
        protected void setUp() throws Exception {
            Random r = new Random();
            for (int i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE; i++) {
                trials[i] = Math.abs(r.nextLong());
            }
        }


        public int timeInternet(int reps) {
            int trues = 0;
            for(int i = 0; i < reps; i++) {
                for(int j = 0; j < ARRAY_SIZE; j++) {
                    if(SquareRootAlgs.isPerfectSquareInternet(trials[j])) trues++;
                }
            }

            return trues;   
        }

        public int timeDurron(int reps) {
            int trues = 0;
            for(int i = 0; i < reps; i++) {
                for(int j = 0; j < ARRAY_SIZE; j++) {
                    if(SquareRootAlgs.isPerfectSquareDurron(trials[j])) trues++;
                }
            }

            return trues;   
        }

        public int timeDurronTwo(int reps) {
            int trues = 0;
            for(int i = 0; i < reps; i++) {
                for(int j = 0; j < ARRAY_SIZE; j++) {
                    if(SquareRootAlgs.isPerfectSquareDurronTwo(trials[j])) trues++;
                }
            }

            return trues;   
        }
    }

    public static void main(String... args) {
        Runner.main(Benchmark1.class, args);
    }
}

UPDATE: I've made a new algorithm that is faster in some scenarios, slower in others, I've gotten different benchmarks based on different inputs. If we calculate modulo 0xFFFFFF = 3 x 3 x 5 x 7 x 13 x 17 x 241, we can eliminate 97.82% of numbers that cannot be squares. This can be (sort of) done in one line, with 5 bitwise operations:

if (!goodLookupSquares[(int) ((n & 0xFFFFFFl) + ((n >> 24) & 0xFFFFFFl) + (n >> 48))]) return false;

The resulting index is either 1) the residue, 2) the residue + 0xFFFFFF, or 3) the residue + 0x1FFFFFE. Of course, we need to have a lookup table for residues modulo 0xFFFFFF, which is about a 3mb file (in this case stored as ascii text decimal numbers, not optimal but clearly improvable with a ByteBuffer and so forth. But since that is precalculation it doesn't matter so much. You can find the file here (or generate it yourself):

public final static boolean isPerfectSquareDurronThree(long n) {
    if(n < 0) return false;
    if(n == 0) return true;

    long x = n;
    while((x & 0x3) == 0) x >>= 2;
    if((x & 0x7) == 1) {
        if (!goodLookupSquares[(int) ((n & 0xFFFFFFl) + ((n >> 24) & 0xFFFFFFl) + (n >> 48))]) return false;
        long sqrt;
        if(x < 410881L)
        {
            int i;
            float x2, y;

            x2 = x * 0.5F;
            y  = x;
            i  = Float.floatToRawIntBits(y);
            i  = 0x5f3759df - ( i >> 1 );
            y  = Float.intBitsToFloat(i);
            y  = y * ( 1.5F - ( x2 * y * y ) );

            sqrt = (long)(1.0F/y);
        } else {
            sqrt = (long) Math.sqrt(x);
        }
        return sqrt*sqrt == x;
    }
    return false;
}

I load it into a boolean array like this:

private static boolean[] goodLookupSquares = null;

public static void initGoodLookupSquares() throws Exception {
    Scanner s = new Scanner(new File("24residues_squares.txt"));

    goodLookupSquares = new boolean[0x1FFFFFE];

    while(s.hasNextLine()) {
        int residue = Integer.valueOf(s.nextLine());
        goodLookupSquares[residue] = true;
        goodLookupSquares[residue + 0xFFFFFF] = true;
        goodLookupSquares[residue + 0x1FFFFFE] = true;
    }

    s.close();
}

Example runtime. It beat Durron (version one) in every trial I ran.

 0% Scenario{vm=java, trial=0, benchmark=Internet} 40665.77 ns; ?=566.71 ns @ 10 trials
33% Scenario{vm=java, trial=0, benchmark=Durron} 38397.60 ns; ?=784.30 ns @ 10 trials
67% Scenario{vm=java, trial=0, benchmark=DurronThree} 36171.46 ns; ?=693.02 ns @ 10 trials

  benchmark   us linear runtime
   Internet 40.7 ==============================
     Durron 38.4 ============================
DurronThree 36.2 ==========================

vm: java
trial: 0

Answer 5

I want this function to work with all positive 64-bit signed integers

Math.sqrt() works with doubles as input parameters, so you won't get accurate results for integers bigger than 2^53.

Answer 6

You should get rid of the 2-power part of N right from the start.

2nd Edit The magical expression for m below should be

m = N - (N & (N-1));

and not as written

End of 2nd edit

m = N & (N-1); // the lawest bit of N
N /= m;
byte = N & 0x0F;
if ((m % 2) || (byte !=1 && byte !=9))
  return false;

1st Edit:

Minor improvement:

m = N & (N-1); // the lawest bit of N
N /= m;
if ((m % 2) || (N & 0x07 != 1))
  return false;

End of 1st edit

Now continue as usual. This way, by the time you get to the floating point part, you already got rid of all the numbers whose 2-power part is odd (about half), and then you only consider 1/8 of whats left. I.e. you run the floating point part on 6% of the numbers.