Benchmark: 2's math pow vs shift vs exp vs multiplication

Tests:

pow
var x = Math.pow(2,18);
shift
var y = 1 << 18
Exponentiation
var y = 2 ** 18
multiply
var y = 2 * 18

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
pow
shift
Exponentiation
multiply

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.2:3b, generated 26 days ago):

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

Let's dive into the explanation of the provided JSON benchmark.

**Benchmark Definition**

The `Benchmark Definition` is a JavaScript expression that calculates the result of 2 raised to the power of 18, multiplied by an additional value (depending on the test case). The expressions are as follows:

- `pow`: `var x = Math.pow(2,18);`
- `shift`: `var y = 1 << 18;` (Shifting bits left by 18 places)
- `Exponentiation`: `var y = 2 ** 18;`
- `multiply`: `var y = 2 * 18;`

These expressions can be evaluated in different ways, which are the focus of the benchmark.

**Options Compared**

The four options are compared in terms of execution speed:

1.  **Math.pow**: Uses the `pow` function from the Math library to calculate the result.
2.  **Shift**: Utilizes bit shifting to perform exponentiation.
3.  **Exponentiation**: Directly calculates the power using the `**` operator, a built-in JavaScript feature for exponentiation.
4.  **Multiply**: Performs multiplication to achieve the same result.

**Pros and Cons**

-   **Math.pow**: Pros: well-documented, widely supported by browsers; Cons: potentially slower due to its interpretation as an integer division (in some cases).
-   **Shift**: Pros: efficient for integer results; Cons: may not work correctly with negative numbers or non-integer values.
-  **Exponentiation (`**` operator)**: Pros: straightforward, fast, and well-supported by most browsers; Cons: Not a standard feature before modern JavaScript versions. However, it's been a part of the language for a while now.
-   **Multiply**: Pros: simple to implement, potentially fast; Cons: inefficient compared to exponentiation.

**Library and Purpose**

The `Math` library provides mathematical functions like `pow()`. It's included in most JavaScript environments, including web browsers.

**Special JS Feature or Syntax**

No special syntax is used here; the focus is on comparing built-in features for exponentiation.

**Other Alternatives**

Some alternatives to consider:

*   For bit shifting (`<<` and `>>` operators), you might also look at libraries like [Fast Bitwise](https://github.com/mvigl/fast-bitwise) or built-in `setBit`/`clearBit` functions, though these are less common.
*   For multiplication (`*` operator), some alternatives could be using `Math.sqrt()` in combination with squaring and then multiplying by the base value (if you want to avoid division).
*   Exponentiation itself is a built-in feature in JavaScript now, making this an efficient choice.

The benchmark primarily serves as a tool for comparing different methods of exponentiation within JavaScript. The results can help users choose between these options based on their specific needs and performance considerations.

Latest run results:

Run details: (Test run date: one year ago)

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/117.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 Edg/117.0.2045.36

Browser/OS: Chrome 117 on Windows

View result in a separate tab

Test name	Executions per second
pow	8042927.5 Ops/sec
shift	1304778752.0 Ops/sec
Exponentiation	1305493632.0 Ops/sec
multiply	1303238016.0 Ops/sec

Related benchmarks:

2's math pow vs shift vs exp vs multiplication (version: 0)

Comparing performance of: pow vs shift vs Exponentiation vs multiply

Created: 3 years ago by: Registered User

Jump to the latest result

pow

shift

Exponentiation

multiply

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Experimental features:

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.2:3b, generated 26 days ago):