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Confusing performance results for prime

In doing some testing of different but simple algorithms for getting a
list of prime numbers, I ended up getting some results that seem a bit
contradictory. Given the following test program (testPrimes.py) with
two algorithms that both check for primes by testing only odd numbers
using factors up to the square root of the value, where Primes1 is based
on all of the existing primes so far, and Primes2 is based on all odd
numbers, I would expect that, as the number of primes we check gets
larger, that Primes1 should get more & more efficient (since it should
be performing less tests for each number). However the ratio seems to
be relatively consistent. Another thing that is interesting is that
once I tested up to n=200000, I got an exception in Primes2. I added
the long typecast in the 'limit=' statement for both versions and the
resulting improvements were strange: Primes1 runs 10-20% SLOWER, and
Primes2 runs about 50% FASTER!

I am not looking to come up with the most optimized solution to prime
numbers here. Primes1 is faster than Primes2 as I would expect and it
is clear, relatively elegant, and sufficient for me. However, I can't
figure out why the ratio doesn't improve with size, and the strange
results of the long typecast, and I would like to be able to understand
what is causing their behavior. Any ideas? Thanks,

--
Greg
#------------------------------------------------------------
import math, time

def Primes1(y):
primes = [3]
for p in range(5, y, 2):
limit = math.sqrt(p) # or: long(math.sqrt(p))
for factor in primes:
if factor > limit: # then number is prime
primes.append(p)
break
elif p % factor == 0: # then it's *not* prime
break
return [2] + primes

def Primes2(y):
primes = [2,3]
for p in range(5, y, 2):
limit = math.sqrt(p) + 1 # or: long(math.sqrt(p)) + 1
# check one extra to let us see if there were no factors
for n in range(3,limit+3,2):
if p % n == 0: # then it's *not* prime
break
if n > limit:
primes.append(p) # then number is prime
return primes
if __name__ == "__main__":
n=100000
tb = time.time()
l1 = Primes1(n)
t1 = time.time() - tb
print 'Primes1: %s primes up to %s in %5.3f secs' % (len(l1), n, t1)
tb = time.time()
l2 = Primes2(n)
t2 = time.time() - tb
print 'Primes2: %s primes up to %s in %5.3f secs' % (len(l2), n, t2)
print 'ratio: %5.2f' % tt

#------------------------------------------------------------

I get the following results (avg for 3 runs each using Python 2.3.2 on
Win XP Pro):

n=50000 n=100000 n=200000
w/out long:
-----------
Primes1: 0.41 0.95 2.24
Primes2: 1.90 4.21 9.28
Ratio: 4.63 4.42 4.14

w/ long:
-----------
Primes1: 0.48 1.12 2.60
Primes2: 0.84 2.04 4.75
Ratio: 1.75 1.82 1.82

Jul 18 '05 #1
9 2673
On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 15:33:24 -0500, "Greg Brunet" <gr********@NOSPAMsempersoft.com> wrote:
In doing some testing of different but simple algorithms for getting a
list of prime numbers, I ended up getting some results that seem a bit
contradictory. Given the following test program (testPrimes.py) with
two algorithms that both check for primes by testing only odd numbers
using factors up to the square root of the value, where Primes1 is based
on all of the existing primes so far, and Primes2 is based on all odd
numbers, I would expect that, as the number of primes we check gets
larger, that Primes1 should get more & more efficient (since it should
be performing less tests for each number). However the ratio seems to
be relatively consistent. Another thing that is interesting is that
once I tested up to n=200000, I got an exception in Primes2. I added
the long typecast in the 'limit=' statement for both versions and the
resulting improvements were strange: Primes1 runs 10-20% SLOWER, and
Primes2 runs about 50% FASTER!

I am not looking to come up with the most optimized solution to prime
numbers here. Primes1 is faster than Primes2 as I would expect and it
is clear, relatively elegant, and sufficient for me. However, I can't
figure out why the ratio doesn't improve with size, and the strange
results of the long typecast, and I would like to be able to understand
what is causing their behavior. Any ideas? Thanks,
Without looking at the implementation code, I could only guess, but you
are using range instead of xrange (but maybe range is now optimized not to build
and actual list in iterator context?). Also, limit as a float or long being passed to
range must cause a little hiccup. Perhaps an iter optimization is being interfered with?
If range is not optimized, then you must be taking a hit from building throwaway
lists with range instead of using xrange, so your inner loop in Primes2 would have
a bunch of overhead. Also, you don't need floating point or long for quite some time,
and x*x > y will be faster than x > math.sqrt(y) and avoid the float altogether
and long to boot, unless you are generating primes larger than maxint.

If you want to conserve space for an all-int primes list, you can use
primes = array.array('l',[2]) instead of primes = [2] to start. Just doing that
apparently gives about the same speed, but I imagine pre-allocating array space
could make it faster, though you'd have to change the append and iteration logic.
Hard to say without testing.

--
Greg

Sorry, I can't resist suggesting a slight speed improvement ;-)

def Primes3(prime_range_top):
primes = [2]
for prime_candidate in xrange(3,prime_range_top,2):
for p in primes:
if prime_candidate%p==0: break
if p*p>prime_candidate:
primes.append(prime_candidate)
break
else:
primes.append(prime_candidate)
return primes

And maybe running the bunch with

if __name__ == "__main__":
n=100000
times = []
for pfun in (Primes1, Primes2, Primes3):
tb = time.time()
l1 = pfun(n)
dt = time.time() - tb
times.append(dt)
print '%s: %s primes up to %s in %5.3f secs' % (
pfun.__name__, len(l1), n, dt)
fastest = min(times)
print '\nTimes relative to the fastest:'
for i, pfun in enumerate((Primes1, Primes2, Primes3)):
print '%s: %5.3f'%(pfun.__name__, times[i]/fastest)

Which gave me (on older machine ;-)

Primes1: 9592 primes up to 100000 in 2.984 secs
Primes2: 9592 primes up to 100000 in 5.608 secs
Primes3: 9592 primes up to 100000 in 2.444 secs

Times relative to the fastest:
Primes1: 1.221
Primes2: 2.295
Primes3: 1.000

Regards,
Bengt Richter
Jul 18 '05 #2
I did the tests for the original Primes1 & 2 (only changed
range --> xrange and sqrt --> int(sqrt)) and your Primes3

Primes1: 9592 primes up to 100000 in 0.547 secs
Primes2: 9592 primes up to 100000 in 0.813 secs (+48.6%)
Primes3: 9592 primes up to 100000 in 0.578 secs (+5.7%)

Primes1: 49098 primes up to 600000 in 5.047 secs
Primes2: 49098 primes up to 600000 in 8.844 secs (+75.2%)
Primes3: 49098 primes up to 600000 in 5.922 secs (+17.3%)

Primes1: 107126 primes up to 1400000 in 14.469 secs
Primes2: 107126 primes up to 1400000 in 27.453 secs (+89.7%)
Primes3: 107126 primes up to 1400000 in 17.203 secs (+18.9%)

Georgy
E^mail: 'ZDAwMTEyMHQwMzMwQGhvdG1haWwuY29t\n'.decode('base6 4')
"Bengt Richter" <bo**@oz.net> wrote in message news:bm**********@216.39.172.122...
<...>
Sorry, I can't resist suggesting a slight speed improvement ;-)

def Primes3(prime_range_top):
primes = [2]
for prime_candidate in xrange(3,prime_range_top,2):
for p in primes:
if prime_candidate%p==0: break
if p*p>prime_candidate:
primes.append(prime_candidate)
break
else:
primes.append(prime_candidate)
return primes

And maybe running the bunch with

if __name__ == "__main__":
n=100000
times = []
for pfun in (Primes1, Primes2, Primes3):
tb = time.time()
l1 = pfun(n)
dt = time.time() - tb
times.append(dt)
print '%s: %s primes up to %s in %5.3f secs' % (
pfun.__name__, len(l1), n, dt)
fastest = min(times)
print '\nTimes relative to the fastest:'
for i, pfun in enumerate((Primes1, Primes2, Primes3)):
print '%s: %5.3f'%(pfun.__name__, times[i]/fastest)

Which gave me (on older machine ;-)

Primes1: 9592 primes up to 100000 in 2.984 secs
Primes2: 9592 primes up to 100000 in 5.608 secs
Primes3: 9592 primes up to 100000 in 2.444 secs

Times relative to the fastest:
Primes1: 1.221
Primes2: 2.295
Primes3: 1.000

Regards,
Bengt Richter

Jul 18 '05 #3
bo**@oz.net (Bengt Richter) wrote previously:
|In doing some testing of different but simple algorithms for getting a
|list of prime numbers

This general topic came up quite recently. I myself wrote a bunch about
various data structures to cache primes and the like. But that was all
fairly idle.

If you want to test primality quickly, using the sieve of erotosthenes
is pretty terrible. At least if you only want to check relatively few
numbers, rather than assemble all the primes. Orders of magnitude
better is to use Miller-Rabin pseudoprimality tests (well, complexity
orders really).

Pick the right algorithm before worrying about micro-optimizations.

Yours, Lulu...

Jul 18 '05 #4
"Bengt Richter" <bo**@oz.net> wrote in message
news:bm**********@216.39.172.122...
On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 15:33:24 -0500, "Greg Brunet" <gr********@NOSPAMsempersoft.com> wrote:
Without looking at the implementation code, I could only guess, but you are using range instead of xrange (but maybe range is now optimized not to build and actual list in iterator context?). Also, limit as a float or long being passed to range must cause a little hiccup. Perhaps an iter optimization is being interfered with? If range is not optimized, then you must be taking a hit from building throwaway lists with range instead of using xrange, so your inner loop in Primes2 would have a bunch of overhead. Also, you don't need floating point or long for quite some time, and x*x > y will be faster than x > math.sqrt(y) and avoid the float altogether and long to boot, unless you are generating primes larger than maxint.

If you want to conserve space for an all-int primes list, you can use
primes = array.array('l',[2]) instead of primes = [2] to start. Just doing that apparently gives about the same speed, but I imagine pre-allocating array space could make it faster, though you'd have to change the append and iteration logic. Hard to say without testing.


Bengt:

I can understand that changing from range to xrange might help things
slightly, and there are other areas as for improvement as well. It's
the 2 areas that I mentioned that resulted in some unexpected results
for me that I still didn't understand. I've taken your improvements on
running & comparing multiple tests (neat stuff BTW) and found the
following:

- Changing from range to xrange doesn't make an appreciable
difference (it flip-flops back & forth over multiple runs). I believe I
had noticed this before, I've now got that actually built into the test
now.

- Getting rid of the Sqrt requires you to perform the (x*x>y) type
test into the loop (whereas performing the sqrt operation allows you to
move that calculation outside of the loop and do a simpler
(factor>limit) test inside the loop). Even though I realized that this
means I need to import math (at least the sqrt function), I figured that
this still be better (which I think is Georgy's point). As I increase
the upperlimit, the sqrt version gets better & better compared to the
x*x version (as one would expect - trading off a more 'expensive'
operation in order to move it outside of the loop). I did tests at
100k, 200k, & 300k, and by 300k, the sqrt test was about 20% faster than
the x*x test.

I've noted some other things that I've tried and put an updated test
program in a response to my original message. Thanks for your help -
it's helped me understand where the improvements were coming from and
that's what my main goal was all about.

--
Greg

Jul 18 '05 #5
Thanks for the responses! After some more testing based on the
responses I got, here's some additional notes:

- xrange doesn't make an appreciable difference for this situation.

- Comparing 'equivalent' Primes1 & Primes3 versions shows that the sqrt
(outside the loop) is a worthwhile optimization (especially for larger
tests) (confirming Georgy's post).

- The reason I seed primes with 3 instead of 2 is that I know that I
won't ever have a match on it (since my loop skips even numbers). This
lets me skip an extra test each time thru the loop. If I use that in
Bengt's x*x version, it cuts the disadvantage of that loop (compared to
the sqrt one) about in half.

- The really big improvement gain in Primes2 by performing the typecase
(to either int or long) is most likely due to avoiding throwing an
exception. I don't always see it (don't understand why it's not
consistent), but sometimes I get a: "DeprecationWarning: integer
argument expected, got float" in the 'for' statement in Primes2.

- I should have typecast to [int] instead of [long]. If I had done so,
the results would have matched my expectations.

- Once I got both Primes1 & 2 using comparable algorithms (see Primes1i
& Primes2i below), Primes1 does become increasingly more efficient than
Primes2 with longer lists, as one would expect, since it will perform
relatively fewer loops.

For anyone interested, here is my updated testing program. It tests
these versions of Primes1: original, int typecast, int typecast w/
xrange, int typecast w/ reversed if tests, long typecast. If you run it,
you'll note that I skip testing the original Primes2, since the warning
exception makes it run MUCH longer (like 400% times longer than
Primes1i). It also has Bengt's Primes3 (and my change of it to skip
[2], then add it back in: Primes3a). Finally, it has another
interesting algorithm (Primes4) that I saw (in cookbook? - don't
remember anymore). I also don't run it in the comparative tests because
it is VERY slow (like 150x slower)! Be sure to run it long enough that
the measurement intervals are meaningful. I default the test to 10000
for older machines, but I'd recommend using a value large enough that
the fastest test takes at least 1 second

--
Greg
#------------------------------------------------------------
import math, time, sys
from math import sqrt
#import psyco
#psyco.full()

# Greg Brunet, Oct 18, 2003

# A check for a number being prime would generally see if
# it is odd and not divisible by any odd numbers up to it's
# square root. However, if we're generating a list of primes,
# we'll use that list to reduce the factors that we check
# against (Primes1 vs. Primes2).

#initial test using list of primes
def Primes1(y):
primes = [3]
for p in range(5, y, 2):
limit = sqrt(p)
for factor in primes:
if factor > limit: # then number is prime
primes.append(p)
break
elif p % factor == 0: # then it's *not* prime
break

#primes = [item for item in [2] + primes if x <= item < y]
return [2] + primes

#test using list of primes - w/ int typecast
# (so camparison is with 2 ints)
def Primes1i(y):
primes = [3]
for p in range(5, y, 2):
limit = int(sqrt(p))
for factor in primes:
if factor > limit: # then number is prime
primes.append(p)
break
elif p % factor == 0: # then it's *not* prime
break

#primes = [item for item in [2] + primes if x <= item < y]
return [2] + primes

#test using list of primes - w/ int typecast and xrange
# (to see if xrange is faster - no noticable difference)
def Primes1ix(y):
primes = [3]
for p in xrange(5, y, 2):
limit = int(sqrt(p))
for factor in primes:
if factor > limit: # then number is prime
primes.append(p)
break
elif p % factor == 0: # then it's *not* prime
break

#primes = [item for item in [2] + primes if x <= item < y]
return [2] + primes

#test using list of primes - w/ int typecast and reversing
# internal if tests (to see if we'll execute less if's that
# way (run faster) - no noticable difference)
def Primes1ir(y):
primes = [3]
for p in range(5, y, 2):
limit = int(sqrt(p))
for factor in primes:
if p % factor == 0: # then it's *not* prime
break
elif factor > limit: # then number is prime
primes.append(p)
break

#primes = [item for item in [2] + primes if x <= item < y]
return [2] + primes

#test using list of primes - w/ long typecast
# (initial optimization, before realizing that I should be
# using int instead!)
def Primes1l(y):
primes = [3]
for p in range(5, y, 2):
limit = long(sqrt(p))
for factor in primes:
if factor > limit: # then number is prime
primes.append(p)
break
elif p % factor == 0: # then it's *not* prime
break

#primes = [item for item in [2] + primes if x <= item < y]
return [2] + primes
#test using all odd numbers up to limit
# (but having a float in 'for..range(...' causes exception -> SLOW!)
def Primes2(y):
primes = [2,3]
for p in range(5, y, 2):
limit = sqrt(p) + 1
# check one extra (limit+3) to let us use (n>limit) below to
# know that we didn't break out of the loop
for n in range(3,limit+3,2):
if p % n == 0: # then it's *not* prime
break
if n > limit:
primes.append(p) # then number is prime

return primes

#test using all odd numbers up to limit - with int typecast
# (gets rid of exception)
def Primes2i(y):
primes = [2,3]
for p in range(5, y, 2):
limit = int(sqrt(p)) + 1
# check one extra (limit+3) to let us use (n>limit) below to
# know that we didn't break out of the loop
for n in range(3,limit+3,2):
if p % n == 0: # then it's *not* prime
break
if n > limit:
primes.append(p) # then number is prime

return primes

#test using all odd numbers up to limit - with int typecast
# (gets rid of exception, but not as fast as int!)
def Primes2l(y):
primes = [2,3]
for p in range(5, y, 2):
limit = long(sqrt(p)) + 1
# check one extra (limit+3) to let us use (n>limit) below to
# know that we didn't break out of the loop
for n in range(3,limit+3,2):
if p % n == 0: # then it's *not* prime
break
if n > limit:
primes.append(p) # then number is prime

return primes

#Bengt Richter's test avoiding sqrt call
def Primes3(prime_range_top):
primes = [2]
for prime_candidate in xrange(3,prime_range_top,2):
for p in primes:
if prime_candidate%p==0: break
if p*p>prime_candidate:
primes.append(prime_candidate)
break
else:
primes.append(prime_candidate)
return primes

#Bengt Richter's test
# - changed to skip checking for even (always false)
def Primes3a(prime_range_top):
primes = [3]
for prime_candidate in xrange(3,prime_range_top,2):
for p in primes:
if prime_candidate%p==0: break
if p*p>prime_candidate:
primes.append(prime_candidate)
break
else:
primes.append(prime_candidate)
return [2] + primes

#interesting approach, but VERY slow
def Primes4(y):
noprimes = [j for i in range(2, int(sqrt(y))+1) for j in range(i*2,
y, i)]
return [x for x in range(2, y) if x not in noprimes]

if __name__ == "__main__":
n=100000
if len(sys.argv)>1:
n=int(sys.argv[1])

times = []
primes = []
for pfun in (Primes1, Primes1i, Primes1ix, Primes1ir,
Primes1l, Primes2i, Primes2l, Primes3, Primes3a):
tb = time.time()
p = pfun(n)
primes.append(len(p))
dt = time.time() - tb
times.append(dt)
fastest = min(times)

print 'Prime number algorithms/optimizations - up to:', n
if (fastest==0):
print '*** Percentages are invalid (fastest time is 0) ***'
fastest = .01
for i, pfun in enumerate((Primes1, Primes1i, Primes1ix,
Primes1ir, Primes1l, Primes2i,
Primes2l, Primes3, Primes3a)):
print '%s: %s primes up to %s in %5.3f secs (+%3.1f%%)' % (
pfun.__name__, primes[i], n, times[i],
(times[i]-fastest)*100/fastest)

#------------------------------------------------------------

Jul 18 '05 #6
"Lulu of the Lotus-Eaters" <me***@gnosis.cx> wrote in message
news:ma*************************************@pytho n.org...
bo**@oz.net (Bengt Richter) wrote previously:
|In doing some testing of different but simple algorithms for getting a |list of prime numbers

This general topic came up quite recently. I myself wrote a bunch about various data structures to cache primes and the like. But that was all fairly idle.

If you want to test primality quickly, using the sieve of erotosthenes
is pretty terrible. At least if you only want to check relatively few
numbers, rather than assemble all the primes. Orders of magnitude
better is to use Miller-Rabin pseudoprimality tests (well, complexity
orders really).

Pick the right algorithm before worrying about micro-optimizations.


Well, actually I was trying to get the list of primes (as well as a
count of them) below a specified value - so perhaps the sieve is the
better algorithm to use. I also was just testing simple, easy to
understand algorithms. Finally, the question was really more about
understanding the cause of the behavior I was seeing after making the
changes. I think that has been acheived. Thanks,
--
Greg

Jul 18 '05 #7
Thanks for your results. That got me to do some more checking with
algorithm differences, and I've posted those results in my response to
Bengt. I guess I'm mentally stuck in 16 bit mode, forgetting that I
could have cast to an int instead of a long.

--
Greg
"Georgy Pruss" <SE************@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:jJ******************@twister.southeast.rr.com ...
I did the tests for the original Primes1 & 2 (only changed
range --> xrange and sqrt --> int(sqrt)) and your Primes3

Primes1: 9592 primes up to 100000 in 0.547 secs
Primes2: 9592 primes up to 100000 in 0.813 secs (+48.6%)
Primes3: 9592 primes up to 100000 in 0.578 secs (+5.7%)

Primes1: 49098 primes up to 600000 in 5.047 secs
Primes2: 49098 primes up to 600000 in 8.844 secs (+75.2%)
Primes3: 49098 primes up to 600000 in 5.922 secs (+17.3%)

Primes1: 107126 primes up to 1400000 in 14.469 secs
Primes2: 107126 primes up to 1400000 in 27.453 secs (+89.7%)
Primes3: 107126 primes up to 1400000 in 17.203 secs (+18.9%)

Georgy
E^mail: 'ZDAwMTEyMHQwMzMwQGhvdG1haWwuY29t\n'.decode('base6 4')


Jul 18 '05 #8
"Greg Brunet" <gr********@NOSPAMsempersoft.com> wrote in message
news:vp************@corp.supernews.com...
Thanks for the responses! After some more testing based on the
responses I got, here's some additional notes:

<snipped the notes>


Here are some functions from an earlier discusion. Note that 1 and 2
are faster, but more memory intensive. They create a list (or array)
of all odd numbers and weed out the non-primes. 3 and 1ix only
create the primes, saving a lot of space.

==================================================

from __future__ import generators
import Numeric
import math
import sys
import time

# Basically, Tim Peter's version of sieve.
def sieve1(n):
if n < 2:
return []
limit = int(math.sqrt(n))
primes = range(1, n+1, 2)
primes[0] = 0
n = len(primes)
for p in primes:
if not p: continue
if p > limit: break
# note that p*p is odd, so no need to subtract 1
# before shifting right -- same thing in the end
for i in xrange((p*p)>>1, n, p):
primes[i] = 0
primes[0] = 2
return filter(None, primes)

# The same as sieve1, but modified by me to use numeric for more speed.
def sieve2(n):
if n < 2:
return []
primes = Numeric.arrayrange(1, n+1, 2)
limit = (int(math.sqrt(n)) / 2) + 1
for p in primes[1:limit]:
if p:
# note that p*p is odd, so no need to subtract 1
# before shifting right -- same thing in the end
primes[(p*p)>>1::p] = 0
return list(Numeric.nonzero(primes))

# Not sure where this came from, but I am sure I didn't write it. This is
# a generator, the function is below.
def sieve3gen(maximum):
"Generate all primes <= maximum."
if maximum >= 2:
yield 2
if maximum >= 3:
yield 3
# candidate takes on all integer values > 3 that aren't divisible by
# 2 or 3.
candidate = 5
delta = 2 # flips between 2 and 4
# Map i to (d, 6*p), where d is 2*p or 4*p, p is a prime dividing i,
# and i+d is the next multiple of p larger than i not divisible by
# 2 or 3. As the algorithm proceeds, f will contain one entry for
# each prime <= sqrt(maximum) discovered so far (excepting 2 and 3).
f = {}
fetch = f.pop
adding = candidate**2 <= maximum
while candidate <= maximum:
if candidate in f:
d, s = fetch(candidate)
# candidate + d is next multiple of s/6 that isn't divisible
# by 2 or 3
i = candidate + d
d = s-d
while i in f:
i += d
d = s-d
f[i] = d, s
else:
yield candidate
if adding:
sq = candidate**2
f[sq] = delta * candidate, 6 * candidate
adding = sq <= maximum
candidate += delta
delta = 6 - delta

# Convert the generator into a function that matches the others.
def sieve3(n):
return [i for i in sieve3gen(n)]

# One of the algorithms from this thread, for comparison.
# test using list of primes - w/ int typecast and xrange
# (to see if xrange is faster - no noticable difference)
def Primes1ix(y):
primes = [3]
for p in xrange(5, y, 2):
limit = int(math.sqrt(p))
for factor in primes:
if factor > limit: # then number is prime
primes.append(p)
break
elif p % factor == 0: # then it's *not* prime
break
return [2] + primes
if __name__ == "__main__":
n=1000000
if len(sys.argv) > 1:
n = int(sys.argv[1])

times = []
primes = []
for pfun in (sieve1, sieve2, sieve3, Primes1ix):
tb = time.time()
p = pfun(n)
primes.append(len(p))
dt = time.time() - tb
times.append(dt)
fastest = min(times)

print 'Prime number algorithms/optimizations - up to:', n
if (fastest==0):
print '*** Percentages are invalid (fastest time is 0) ***'
fastest = .01
for i, pfun in enumerate((sieve1, sieve2, sieve3, Primes1ix)):
print '%s: %s primes up to %s in %5.3f secs (+%3.1f%%)' % (
pfun.__name__, primes[i], n, times[i],
(times[i]-fastest)*100/fastest)

================================================== =

Prime number algorithms/optimizations - up to: 1000000
sieve1: 78498 primes up to 1000000 in 0.593 secs (+99.7%)
sieve2: 78498 primes up to 1000000 in 0.297 secs (+0.0%)
sieve3: 78498 primes up to 1000000 in 1.078 secs (+263.0%)
Primes1ix: 78498 primes up to 1000000 in 10.438 secs (+3414.5%)
Jul 18 '05 #9
On Sat, 18 Oct 2003 17:20:34 -0500, "Greg Brunet" <gr********@NOSPAMsempersoft.com> wrote:
[...]

Bengt:

I can understand that changing from range to xrange might help things
slightly, and there are other areas as for improvement as well. It's
the 2 areas that I mentioned that resulted in some unexpected results
for me that I still didn't understand. I've taken your improvements on
running & comparing multiple tests (neat stuff BTW) and found the
following:

- Changing from range to xrange doesn't make an appreciable
difference (it flip-flops back & forth over multiple runs). I believe I
had noticed this before, I've now got that actually built into the test
now. I guess there must be some optimization at work.

- Getting rid of the Sqrt requires you to perform the (x*x>y) type
test into the loop (whereas performing the sqrt operation allows you to
move that calculation outside of the loop and do a simpler
(factor>limit) test inside the loop). Even though I realized that this Yes, that was a blunder on my part.
means I need to import math (at least the sqrt function), I figured that
this still be better (which I think is Georgy's point). As I increase
the upperlimit, the sqrt version gets better & better compared to the
x*x version (as one would expect - trading off a more 'expensive'
operation in order to move it outside of the loop). I did tests at
100k, 200k, & 300k, and by 300k, the sqrt test was about 20% faster than
the x*x test.

I've noted some other things that I've tried and put an updated test
program in a response to my original message. Thanks for your help -
it's helped me understand where the improvements were coming from and
that's what my main goal was all about.

Lulu is right about micro-optimization though ;-)

Regards,
Bengt Richter
Jul 18 '05 #10

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