Benchmark: Multiply using Decimal.js vs Multiply using native numbers with Math.pow to 10 decimals

HTML Preparation code:

<script src='https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/decimal.js-light@2.5.0/decimal.min.js'></script>

Script Preparation code:

var x = 5.236;

Tests:

Multiply using Decimal.js
for (var i = 0; i < 1000; i++) { Decimal('0.00253452345').times(Decimal('0.042234')) }
Multiply using native numbers with Math.pow
let precision = 10, factor = Math.pow(10, precision), first = 0.00253452345, sec = 0.042234; for (var i = 0; i < 1000; i++) { (Math.round(first * factor) * Math.round(sec * factor)) / (factor * factor) }

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
Multiply using Decimal.js
Multiply using native numbers with Math.pow

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Latest run results:

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

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/130.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 Edg/130.0.0.0

Browser/OS: Chrome 130 on Mac OS X 10.15.7

View result in a separate tab

Test name	Executions per second
Multiply using Decimal.js	1484.1 Ops/sec
Multiply using native numbers with Math.pow	9073.3 Ops/sec

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model gpt-4o-mini, generated one month ago):

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

In the provided benchmark, two different methods for performing multiplication in JavaScript are compared: one using the `Decimal.js` library and the other using JavaScript's native number type along with `Math.pow`. Specifically, the benchmark aims to assess the performance of these two approaches for multiplying two decimal values, while also ensuring precision by handling decimal places correctly.

### Comparison of Approaches

1. **Multiply using Decimal.js**
   - **Test Method**: This method uses the `Decimal` constructor from the `Decimal.js` library to create decimal representations of the numbers. It then multiplies them using the `.times()` method.
   - **Pros**:
     - Handles arbitrary precision, which allows for greater accuracy in calculations with decimals that may otherwise lead to rounding errors with native numbers.
     - Simplifies the syntax and makes the code more readable when working with complex decimal arithmetic.
   - **Cons**:
     - May introduce overhead due to the creation of `Decimal` objects, which can slow down performance in scenarios requiring a high volume of calculations.
     - Requires reliance on an external library, which can increase the project's overall footprint.

2. **Multiply using native numbers with Math.pow**
   - **Test Method**: This approach involves rounding the decimal numbers to integers by scaling them (using `Math.pow(10, precision)`), performing the multiplication as integers, and then scaling the result back down.
   - **Pros**:
     - Generally faster due to the native handling of numbers in JavaScript and the lack of the overhead associated with an external library.
     - Utilizes built-in JavaScript features, which reduces dependencies on third-party code.
   - **Cons**:
     - Prone to errors with very large or very small decimal values due to limitations in JavaScript's native number representation (which is based on 64-bit floating-point).
     - Requires careful management of precision and scaling, which can complicate the code and introduce potential bugs.

### Additional Considerations

When evaluating the results of the benchmark, we can see that the native multiplication method performs significantly faster, with approximately 9073 executions per second compared to 1484 executions per second for `Decimal.js`. This indicates that while `Decimal.js` provides additional precision, it comes at the cost of performance.

### Library Explanation

**Library**: `Decimal.js`
- **Purpose**: This library is utilized for arbitrary-precision decimal arithmetic. It is particularly useful in scenarios where precision is critical, such as financial calculations, avoiding issues related to floating-point arithmetic present in JavaScript's native number type.

### Alternative Approaches

1. **BigInt**: For cases where you only need to work with integers, JavaScript provides the `BigInt` type, which allows for the representation of large integers without losing precision. However, it's not suitable for decimal arithmetic as it does not support fractions.

2. **Other Libraries**:
   - **Big.js**: Similar to `Decimal.js`, Big.js offers arbitrary-precision decimal arithmetic. It is more lightweight compared to `Decimal.js`.
   - **bignumber.js**: This library offers a simple way to perform arithmetic with high precision and is often used in financial computations.

3. **Built-in BigInt**: While not suitable for decimal multiplication, combining `BigInt` for integer operations with arbitrary precision libraries for decimals could be a viable strategy to maintain performance and accuracy.

In summary, the benchmark provides a clear comparison of two methods for decimal multiplication in JavaScript, highlighting the trade-off between precision and performance, while offering insights into external libraries and alternative approaches for handling numerical computations in JavaScript.

Related benchmarks:

Multiply using Decimal.js vs Multiply using native numbers with Math.pow to 10 decimals (version: 1)

Comparing performance of: Multiply using Decimal.js vs Multiply using native numbers with Math.pow

Created: one month ago by: Guest

Jump to the latest result

Multiply using Decimal.js

Multiply using native numbers with Math.pow

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Experimental features:

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model gpt-4o-mini, generated one month ago):