EzDevInfo.com

Divide a number by 3 without using *, /, +, -, % operators

How would you divide a number by 3 without using *, /, +, -, %, operators?

The number may be signed or unsigned.

What is JavaScript's highest integer value that a Number can go to without losing precision?

Is this defined by the language? Is there a defined maximum? Is it different in different browsers?

Integer division in JavaScript

In JavaScript, how do I get:

1. the whole number of times a given integer goes into another?
2. the remainder?

How can I specify the base for Math.log() in JavaScript?

I need a log function for JavaScript, but it needs to be base 10. I can't see any listing for this, so I'm assuming it's not possible. Are there any math wizards out there who know a solution for this?

Evaluating a math expression given in string form

I'm trying to write a Java routine to evaluate simple math expressions from String values like:

1. "5+3"
2. "10-40"
3. "10*3"

I want to avoid a lot of if-then-else statements. How can I do this?

Calculate distance between two latitude-longitude points? (Haversine formula)

How do I calculate the distance between two points specified by latitude and longitude?

For clarification, I'd like the distance in kilometers; the points use the WGS84 system and I'd like to understand the relative accuracies of the approaches available.

The most efficient way to implement an integer based power function pow(int, int)

What is the most efficient way given to raise an integer to the power of another integer in C?

// 2^3
pow(2,3) == 8

// 5^5
pow(5,5) == 3125

How to determine whether my calculation of pi is accurate?

I was trying various methods to implement a program that gives the digits of pi sequentially. I tried the Taylor series method, but it proved to converge extremely slowly (when I compared my result with the online values after some time). Anyway, I am trying better algorithms.

So, while writing the program I got stuck on a problem, as with all algorithms: How do I know that the n digits that I've calculated are accurate?

Is floating point math broken?

0.1 + 0.2 == 0.3
-> false

0.1 + 0.2
-> 0.30000000000000004

Any ideas why this happens?

Designing function f(f(n)) == -n [on hold]

A question I got on my last interview:

Design a function f, such that:

f(f(n)) == -n

Where n is a 32 bit signed integer; you can't use complex numbers arithmetic.

If you can't design such a function for the whole range of numbers, design it for the largest range possible.

Any ideas?

Fastest way to determine if an integer's square root is an integer

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). 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. Maintaining a lookup table is impratical (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;
}

Notes: 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.

Update 2: A new solution posted by A. Rex has proven to be even faster. In a run over the first 1 billion integers, the solution only required 34% of the time that the original solution used. While the John Carmack hack is a little better for small values of n, the benefit compared to this solution is pretty small.

Here is the A. Rex solution, converted to Java:

private final static boolean isPerfectSquare(long n)
{
  // Quickfail
  if( n < 0 || ((n&2) != 0) || ((n & 7) == 5) || ((n & 11) == 8) )
    return false;
  if( n == 0 )
    return true;

  // Check mod 255 = 3 * 5 * 17, for fun
  long y = n;
  y = (y & 0xffffffffL) + (y >> 32);
  y = (y & 0xffffL) + (y >> 16);
  y = (y & 0xffL) + ((y >> 8) & 0xffL) + (y >> 16);
  if( bad255[(int)y] )
      return false;

  // Divide out powers of 4 using binary search
  if((n & 0xffffffffL) == 0)
      n >>= 32;
  if((n & 0xffffL) == 0)
      n >>= 16;
  if((n & 0xffL) == 0)
      n >>= 8;
  if((n & 0xfL) == 0)
      n >>= 4;
  if((n & 0x3L) == 0)
      n >>= 2;

  if((n & 0x7L) != 1)
      return false;

  // Compute sqrt using something like Hensel's lemma
  long r, t, z;
  r = start[(int)((n >> 3) & 0x3ffL)];
  do {
    z = n - 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 <= (1L << 33) );
  return false;
}

private static boolean[] bad255 =
{
   false,false,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,
   true ,true ,false,false,true ,true ,false,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,false,
   true ,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,false,true ,true ,
   true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,false,
   true ,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,false,
   true ,false,true ,true ,false,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,
   true ,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,false,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,
   true ,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,
   true ,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,
   true ,true ,true ,false,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,
   true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,
   true ,false,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,false,true ,
   true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,
   false,true ,false,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,
   true ,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,
   false,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,false,true ,true ,
   true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,false,
   true ,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,
   false,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,
   true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,false,true ,true ,false,
   true ,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,false,true ,
   true ,false,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,
   true ,true ,true ,false,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,
   true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,
   true ,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,false,true ,true ,false,
   false,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,
   true ,false,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,
   true ,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,
   true ,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,false,
   true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,
   false,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,false,true ,true ,
   true ,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,
   true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,false,true ,false,true ,true ,
   false,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,
   true ,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,false,true ,true ,true ,
   true ,true ,true ,true ,false,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,
   true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,
   true ,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,
   true ,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,false,true ,true ,true ,true ,true ,
   true ,true ,true ,false,false
};

private static int[] start =
{
  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
};

Update: I've tried the different solutions presented below.

• 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 John Carmack hack was faster, but it gave incorrect results starting at n=410881. However, as suggested by BobbyShaftoe, we can use the Carmack 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.

The one suggestion which did show improvements was made by John D. Cook. You can observe that the last hex digit (i.e. the last 4 bits) of a perfect square must be 0, 1, 4, or 9. This means that 75% of numbers can be immediately eliminated as possible squares. Implementing this solution resulted in about a 50% reduction in runtime.

Working from John's suggestion, I investigated properties of the last n bits of a perfect square. By analyzing the last 6 bits, I found that only 12 out of 64 values are possible for the last 6 bits. This means 81% of values can be eliminated without using any math. Implementing this solution gave an additional 8% reduction in runtime (compared to my original algorithm). Analyzing more than 6 bits results in a list of possible ending bits which is too large to be practical.

Here is the code that I have used, which runs in 42% of the time required by the original algorithm (based on a run over the first 100 million integers). For values of n less than 410881, it runs in only 29% of the time required by the original algorithm.

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

  switch((int)(n & 0x3F))
  {
  case 0x00: case 0x01: case 0x04: case 0x09: case 0x10: case 0x11:
  case 0x19: case 0x21: case 0x24: case 0x29: case 0x31: case 0x39:
    long sqrt;
    if(n < 410881L)
    {
      //John Carmack hack, converted to Java.
      // See: http://www.codemaestro.com/reviews/9
      int i;
      float x2, y;

      x2 = n * 0.5F;
      y  = n;
      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
    {
      //Carmack hack gives incorrect answer for n >= 410881.
      sqrt = (long)Math.sqrt(n);
    }
    return sqrt*sqrt == n;

  default:
    return false;
  }
}

Notes:

• 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. I'm not sure why. This is because array bounds are checked in Java.

Understanding "randomness"

I can't get my head around this, which is more random?

rand()

OR

rand() * rand()

I´m finding it a real brain teaser, could you help me out?

EDIT:

Intuitively I know that the mathematical answer will be that they are equally random, but I can't help but think that if you "run the random number algorithm" twice when you multiply the two together you'll create something more random than just doing it once.

Easy interview question got harder: given numbers 1..100, find the missing number(s)

I had an interesting job interview experience a while back. The question started really easy:

Q1: We have a bag containing numbers 1, 2, 3, …, 100. Each number appears exactly once, so there are 100 numbers. Now one number is randomly picked out of the bag. Find the missing number.

I've heard this interview question before, of course, so I very quickly answered along the lines of:

A1: Well, the sum of the numbers 1 + 2 + 3 + … + N is (N+1)(N/2) (see Wikipedia: sum of arithmetic series). For N = 100, the sum is 5050.

Thus, if all numbers are present in the bag, the sum will be exactly 5050. Since one number is missing, the sum will be less than this, and the difference is that number. So we can find that missing number in O(N) time and O(1) space.

At this point I thought I had done well, but all of a sudden the question took an unexpected turn:

Q2: That is correct, but now how would you do this if TWO numbers are missing?

I had never seen/heard/considered this variation before, so I panicked and couldn't answer the question. The interviewer insisted on knowing my thought process, so I mentioned that perhaps we can get more information by comparing against the expected product, or perhaps doing a second pass after having gathered some information from the first pass, etc, but I really was just shooting in the dark rather than actually having a clear path to the solution.

The interviewer did try to encourage me by saying that having a second equation is indeed one way to solve the problem. At this point I was kind of upset (for not knowing the answer before hand), and asked if this is a general (read: "useful") programming technique, or if it's just a trick/gotcha answer.

The interviewer's answer surprised me: you can generalize the technique to find 3 missing numbers. In fact, you can generalize it to find k missing numbers.

Qk: If exactly k numbers are missing from the bag, how would you find it efficiently?

This was a few months ago, and I still couldn't figure out what this technique is. Obviously there's a Ω(N) time lower bound since we must scan all the numbers at least once, but the interviewer insisted that the TIME and SPACE complexity of the solving technique (minus the O(N) time input scan) is defined in k not N.

So the question here is simple:

• How would you solve Q2?
• How would you solve Q3?
• How would you solve Qk?

Clarifications

• Generally there are N numbers from 1..N, not just 1..100.
• I'm not looking for the obvious set-based solution, e.g. using a bit set, encoding the presence/absence each number by the value of a designated bit, therefore using O(N) bits in additional space. We can't afford any additional space proportional to N.
• I'm also not looking for the obvious sort-first approach. This and the set-based approach are worth mentioning in an interview (they are easy to implement, and depending on N, can be very practical). I'm looking for the Holy Grail solution (which may or may not be practical to implement, but has the desired asymptotic characteristics nevertheless).

So again, of course you must scan the input in O(N), but you can only capture small amount of information (defined in terms of k not N), and must then find the k missing numbers somehow.

How to check for NaN in python?

float('nan') results in a thingy simply called nan. But how do I check for it? Should be very easy, but i cannot find it.

How does C compute sin() and other math functions?

I've been poring through .NET disassemblies and the GCC source code, but can't seem to find anywhere the actual implementation of sin() and other math functions... they always seem to be referencing something else.

Can anyone help me find them? I feel like it's unlikely that ALL hardware that C will run on supports trig functions in hardware, so there must be a software algorithm somewhere, right?

Edit: I'm aware of several ways that functions can be calculated, and have written my own routines to compute functions using taylor series for fun. I'm curious about how real, production languages do it, since all of my implementations are always several orders of magnitude slower, even though I think my algorithms are pretty clever (obviously they're not).