Greetings!
Richard Fateman writes:
> van.Nek@gmx.net wrote:
>
>
>
> GCL-Maxima has an integer function gcd available at lisp level, which is an implementation of GMP-gcd. It is absolutely fast
> when using big numbers. This should be the standard for every integer function in Maxima.
>
> Contrary to the needs of number theorists, many uses of Maxima involve doing
> arithmetic on relatively small numbers, for example used as integer indexes into
> arrays, or exponents in polynomials.
> Using the code that is fast for long numbers would make some programs
> run much slower, at least on some systems I have timed.
> This may be more an issue for the implementor of Lisp than for Maxima.
> RJF
>
Just a clarification here -- GCL uses gmp gcd on bignum arguments
only, which is indeed uite fast. For fixnums, which on GCL cover the
whole machine word range, a different algorithm is used, which to my
understanding is still quite competitive..
Take care,
--
Camm Maguire camm@enhanced.com
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