Benchmark: ** vs. Math.pow() vs. Math.sqrt()

Script Preparation code:

var x = Math.random();

Tests:

x ** 0.5
x ** 0.5;
Math.pow(x, 0.5)
Math.pow(x, 0.5);
Math.sqrt(x)
Math.sqrt(x);

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
x ** 0.5
Math.pow(x, 0.5)
Math.sqrt(x)

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Latest run results:

Run details: (Test run date: 2 years ago)

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:103.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/103.0

Browser/OS: Firefox 103 on Linux

View result in a separate tab

Test name	Executions per second
x ** 0.5	751883200.0 Ops/sec
Math.pow(x, 0.5)	870068800.0 Ops/sec
Math.sqrt(x)	754077056.0 Ops/sec

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

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

Let's dive into the world of JavaScript microbenchmarks.

**What is being tested?**

The provided JSON represents a benchmark test that compares three different approaches to calculate the square root of a number:

1. `x ** 0.5` (exponentiation)
2. `Math.pow(x, 0.5)` (using the `pow()` method from the Math library)
3. `Math.sqrt(x)` (using the built-in `sqrt()` function from the Math library)

**Options compared:**

The three approaches being compared are:

* Exponentiation (`x ** 0.5`): This method uses the exponentiation operator to raise `x` to the power of `0.5`, which is equivalent to taking the square root.
* Using `Math.pow()` (`Math.pow(x, 0.5)`): This method uses the `pow()` function from the Math library to raise `x` to the power of `0.5`.
* Using `Math.sqrt()``` (Math.sqrt(x)): This method directly calculates the square root of `x` using the built-in `sqrt()` function from the Math library.

**Pros and Cons:**

Here's a brief overview of each approach:

* **Exponentiation (`x ** 0.5`):**
	+ Pros:
		- Simple and concise syntax
		- Fast execution (since it uses binary exponentiation)
	+ Cons:
		- May not be as intuitive for non-mathematical operations
		- Can lead to loss of precision due to intermediate results
* **Using `Math.pow()` (`Math.pow(x, 0.5)`):**
	+ Pros:
		- Well-documented and widely supported syntax
		- Precise calculations since the result is not truncated
	+ Cons:
		- Verbose syntax may be slower due to function overhead
* **Using `Math.sqrt()``` (Math.sqrt(x)):**
	+ Pros:
		- Fast execution with few operations
		- Well-suited for direct square root calculations
	+ Cons:
		- May not be as flexible or general-purpose as exponentiation

**Library/Language features:**

In this benchmark, the following JavaScript library is used:

* The Math library (`Math.pow()` and `Math.sqrt()`) provides functions for mathematical operations.

**Special JS feature/syntax:**

The test cases use exponentiation (`x ** 0.5`), which is a shorthand syntax for raising a number to a fractional power. This syntax is supported in modern JavaScript engines, including V8 (used by Chrome) and SpiderMonkey (used by Firefox).

**Alternatives:**

Other alternatives for calculating the square root of a number include:

* Using numerical methods like Newton's method or bisection
* Employing specialized libraries like BLAS/LAPACK for linear algebra operations
* Utilizing GPU-accelerated computations using WebGPU or OpenCL

Keep in mind that these alternatives may be more complex, slower, and less suitable for general-purpose calculations.

I hope this explanation helps!

Related benchmarks:

** vs. Math.pow() vs. Math.sqrt() (version: 0)

Comparing performance of: x ** 0.5 vs Math.pow(x, 0.5) vs Math.sqrt(x)

Created: 3 years ago by: Guest

Jump to the latest result

x ** 0.5

Math.pow(x, 0.5)

Math.sqrt(x)

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Experimental features:

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

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