NAME Math::Root

High accuracy and efficient nth root routines.

SYNOPSIS

use Math::Root;

# Integer root of an integer, returns an Integer. (possibly not exact.)
# Defaults to square root.

say iroot 2**541;     # integer square root
# 2682957709556584533771917772160356460380403547217698392041778498789597340712478078

say iroot 2**541, 3; # integer cube root
# 1930823390806962193386557101263626480502272594990424863

say iroot 2**341, 7; # integer seventh root
# 184212135128821202763601


# Rational root of Real number, returns a FatRat. Defaults to square root
# with 32 digits past the decimal point.

say root 2**541;     # square root
# 2682957709556584533771917772160356460380403547217698392041778498789597340712478078.25589164260725933347013112601008

say root 2**541, 3; # cube root
# 1930823390806962193386557101263626480502272594990424863.73446798343158184700655776636161

say (2**541).&root(7); # seventh root
# 184212135128821202763601.0882008101068149236473074788038

DESCRIPTION

Calculate Integer or Rational nth root of a number. Provides two routines depending on which result you desire.

sub iroot( Int n? --> Int )

• $number

  • value; Integer, required.

• $n

  • value; positive Integer, optional, defaults to 2.

Efficiently calculates the Integer nth root of an Integer. Returns an Integer. Fast Integer-only arithmetic. May (very likely) not return an exact root, but useful in many situations where you don't need the fractional portion. Exponent n defaults to 2 (square root).

--

sub root( Real n?, Int $precision? --> FatRat )

• $number

  • value; any Real number, required.

• $n

  • value; positive Integer > 1, optional, (nth root), default 2 (square root).

• $precision

  • value; positive Integer, optional, number of digits to the right of the decimal, default 32.

Calculates the nth root of a Real number. Returns a FatRat, precise to 32 decimal digits by default. May pass in a different precision for more or fewer fractional digits, or may set the $*ROOT-PRECISION dynamic variable to have a different default.

USAGE

Raku nth root calculations return Nums by default. Very useful for small numbers but of limited value for very large ones. This module provides high accuracy root functions for both Integer and Rational results.

Contrast the default Raku operations:

say sqrt 2**541;       # 2.6829577095565847e+81

say (2**541) ** (1/2); # 2.6829577095565847e+81

with the Math::Root operations:

say iroot 2**541;
# 2682957709556584533771917772160356460380403547217698392041778498789597340712478078

say root 2**541;
# 2682957709556584533771917772160356460380403547217698392041778498789597340712478078.25589164260725933347013112601008

Note that root() always returns a FatRat. If that will be problematic, coerce the returned value to some other type. You will lose precision. There is always a trade-off.

root() returns 32 digits past the decimal point by default. For a different precision, you may pass in a precision value when you call it, or can adjust the default precision by setting the $*ROOT-PRECISION dynamic variable to some positive integer value.

say sqrt 2; # Default Raku square root
# 1.4142135623730951

say root 2; # Defaults to n = 2, precision 32
# 1.4142135623730950488016887242097

say root 2, 2, 75; # When passing a precision, also need to specify n (2)
# 1.414213562373095048801688724209698078569671875376948073176679737990732478463

# or

{
    # Set $*ROOT-PRECISION for a different default precision.
    # Localized to prevent scope creep.
    temp $*ROOT-PRECISION = 64;
    say root 2;
    # 1.414213562373095048801688724209698078569671875376948073176679738
}

$n can be any integer > 1. The examples so far have all used either an explicit or default of 2, but you can pass in 3 for a cube root, 5 for a fifth root, 117 for a one hundred seventeenth root, whatever.

say root 3, 3; # cube root of 3
# 1.44224957030740838232163831078011

say root 17, 13; # thirteenth root of 17
# 1.24351181796058033975980132060205

No matter how the precision is set, or what it is set to, the last digit will be rounded correctly. However, also note that non-significant digits (trailing zeros) may be dropped.

say root 25;           # 5 <-- still a FatRat!
say root 25.0;         # 5 <-- still a FatRat!

# number scale -->                  1         2         3         4         5
# number scale -->         123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901
say root 2.123, 2, 51; # 1.457051817884319445661135028125627344205381869400006
say root 2.123, 2, 50; # 1.45705181788431944566113502812562734420538186940001
say root 2.123, 2, 49; # 1.4570518178843194456611350281256273442053818694

At the time of this writing, there is another module in the ecosystem, BigRoot, that provides similar high accuracy root functionality. It works quite nicely but has several drawbacks for my purposes. It is strictly object oriented; no separate general purpose routines. It doesn't provide specialized integer root functionality, you would need to calculate a rational root then truncate. And, in testing, I find it is about 33% slower on average than this module for Rational roots. Even slower for Integer roots.

AUTHOR

2021 Steve Schulze aka thundergnat

This package is free software and is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty. You can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

LICENSE

Licensed under The Artistic 2.0; see LICENSE.