Subj : Re: sqrt algo
To   : comp.programming
From : =?iso-8859-1?q?Asbj=F8rn_S=E6b=F8?=
Date : Wed Jul 13 2005 04:41 pm

himanshu bafna <himanshu.bafna@oracle.com> writes:

> Hi
> 
> Can anyone shed light on an Algorithm for finding out the square root
> of a number? to make it simple lets only consider integers.

Here is an iterative one (from the ancient Egypt, I have been told):

current_estimate = 0.5*(previous_estimate + number/previous_estimate)

You'll have to terminate it when you are "close enough".  (It
converges quite quickly, the number itself may serve as the first
estimate.)

Asbjørn
-- 
Asbjørn Sæbø, post.doc. 
Centre for Quantifiable Quality of Service in Communication Systems
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
<URL: http://www.q2s.ntnu.no/ >

.