Root-finding algorithms | Computer arithmetic algorithms
Methods of computing square roots
Methods of computing square roots are numerical analysis algorithms for approximating the principal, or non-negative, square root (usually denoted , , or ) of a real number. Arithmetically, it means given , a procedure for finding a number which when multiplied by itself, yields ; algebraically, it means a procedure for finding the non-negative root of the equation ; geometrically, it means given two line segments, a procedure for constructing their geometric mean. Every real number has two square roots. The principal square root of most numbers is an irrational number with an infinite decimal expansion. As a result, the decimal expansion of any such square root can only be computed to some finite-precision approximation. However, even if we are taking the square root of a perfect square integer, so that the result does have an exact finite representation, the procedure used to compute it may only return a series of increasingly accurate approximations. The continued fraction representation of a real number can be used instead of its decimal or binary expansion and this representation has the property that the square root of any rational number (which is not already a perfect square) has a periodic, repeating expansion, similar to how rational numbers have repeating expansions in the decimal notation system. The most common analytical methods are iterative and consist of two steps: finding a suitable starting value, followed by iterative refinement until some termination criterion is met. The starting value can be any number, but fewer iterations will be required the closer it is to the final result. The most familiar such method, most suited for programmatic calculation, is Newton's method, which is based on a property of the derivative in the calculus. A few methods like paper-and-pencil synthetic division and series expansion, do not require a starting value. In some applications, an integer square root is required, which is the square root rounded or truncated to the nearest integer (a modified procedure may be employed in this case). The method employed depends on what the result is to be used for (i.e. how accurate it has to be), how much effort one is willing to put into the procedure, and what tools are at hand. The methods may be roughly classified as those suitable for mental calculation, those usually requiring at least paper and pencil, and those which are implemented as programs to be executed on a digital electronic computer or other computing device. Algorithms may take into account convergence (how many iterations are required to achieve a specified precision), computational complexity of individual operations (i.e. division) or iterations, and error propagation (the accuracy of the final result). Procedures for finding square roots (particularly the square root of 2) have been known since at least the period of ancient Babylon in the 17th century BCE. Heron's method from first century Egypt was the first ascertainable algorithm for computing square root. Modern analytic methods began to be developed after introduction of the Arabic numeral system to western Europe in the early Renaissance. Today, nearly all computing devices have a fast and accurate square root function, either as a programming language construct, a compiler intrinsic or library function, or as a hardware operator, based on one of the described procedures. (Wikipedia).
