Java: Performance SQRT Calculations

javamathperformancesqrt

I have this code:

package math;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Scanner;

public class Main
{
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException
    {
        System.out.println("Hi, I will beat Java's Math.sqrt(double) method");
        System.out.println("Both ways of calculation will be done");
        System.out.println("I will time how long they took to calculate");
        System.out.println("Random doubles will be generated");
        System.out.println();
        System.out.println("Please give the number of sqrt-calculation will be done");
        int calcs = new Scanner(System.in).nextInt();
        boolean output = true;
        if (calcs > 10000)
        {
            System.out.println("You're asking much calculations");
            System.out.println("Disabling output is recommend");
            System.out.println("Disable output? (y/n)");
            char a = (char) System.in.read();
            if (a == 'y')
            {
                output = false;
            }
        }
        System.out.println("Press enter to start");
        System.in.read();
        test(calcs, output);
        System.out.println();
        System.out.println("I was much faster I think");
        System.out.println("Now you can check my precision");
        System.out.println("Please give a complex double");
        double x = Double.parseDouble(new Scanner(System.in).next());
        System.out.println();
        System.out.println("Math.sqrt(" + x + ")           = " + Math.sqrt(x));
        System.out.println("SqrtCalculator.sqrt(" + x + ") = " + sqrt(x));
        System.out.println("------------------------");
        System.out.println("Now please make your conclusion");
        System.out.println("Thanks for trying");
    }

    public static void test(int calculations, boolean output)
    {
        double factor = Math.random() / 2;
        // Math
        long mathStart = System.currentTimeMillis();
        for (int i = 1; i <= calculations; i++)
        {
            double x = i * factor;
            double result = Math.sqrt(x);
            if (output)
            {
                System.out.println("Math.sqrt(" + x + ") =  " + result);
            }
        }
        long mathStop = System.currentTimeMillis();
        long mathTime = mathStop - mathStart;
        // My Method
        long myStart = System.currentTimeMillis();
        for (int i = 1; i <= calculations; i++)
        {
            double x = i * factor;
            double result = sqrt(x);
            if (output)
            {
                System.out.println("SqrtCalculater.sqrt(" + x + ") =  " + result);
            }
        }
        long myStop = System.currentTimeMillis();
        long myTime = myStop - myStart;
        System.out.println();
        if (output)
            System.out.println("---------------------------");
        System.out.println("Here are the results:");
        System.out.println("Math and SqrtCalculator did each " + calculations + " of the same sqrt-calculations");
        System.out.println();
        System.out.println("Math: " + mathTime + " milliseconds");
        System.out.println("I:    " + myTime + " milliseconds");
    }

    public final static double sqrt(double x)
    {
        double previous = 1;
        double now = 0;
        for (;;)
        {
            now = (x / previous + previous) / 2;
            if (previous == now)
            {
                return now;
            }
            previous = now;
        }
    }
}

This sqrt method is called "heroon".
If I run my program and I ask 80000 calculations and I disable the output, Math.sqrt() is much faster than my method. If I ask 80000 calcs and I enable the output, My method is much faster.

Can someone explain this?

Thanks

Sorry for bad English.

Best Solution

I could not reproduce your results. Tried some times using Eclipse Galileo and JDK 1.6.0.

For 80000, output disabled, I got something like:

Math: 15 milliseconds
I:    32 milliseconds

small times, It would be better to use System.nanoTime() or more interactions.

For 80000, output enabled:

Math: 3609 milliseconds
I:    4906 milliseconds

So probably the problem is the way that output is handled (scrolling, buffering, ...)

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