The x: is a verb which converts e to an extended integer. Probably makes the
exponentation be performed by repeated squaring.

On Tue, Jun 9, 2009 at 6:39 PM, <[email protected]> wrote:

> In the following code:
>
> pp=: 3 : 0
>    for_e. 2+i.>.2^.y do.
>        m=. e <....@%: y
>        if. y=m^x: e do. m,e return. end.
>   end.
>  ''
>  )
>
> I understand that:
>
> if. y=m^x: e do. m,e return. end.
>
> will exit when the input y equals the m^x: and display m,e
>
> 1.  Where does the "x" come from.  I do not supply it as a
> left-hand-side argument.
> 2.  what is the significance of "x:"
>
> Thanks for the explanation.
>
> A comment:
>
> In reading about the "perfect power" there was a statement I
> found that (I think) ...
> said that the only exponents I should test were those that
> were prime.
>
> Is it cheaper time-wise to just do all the exponents from 2
> to >. 2 ^. y or would
> it be faster to prune the for_e list so it only contains
> primes.
>
> ----- Original Message Follows -----
> From: Roger Hui <[email protected]>
> To: Programming forum <[email protected]>
> Subject: Re: [Jprogramming] perfect power???
> Date: Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:11:41 -0700
>
> >Somewhere in the bowels of q: it calls 1&p:
> >before launching into the much more expensive
> >factoring routine.
> >
> >It seems to me there should be a straightforward
> >determination of whether a number  y is a perfect power:
> >just try all possible exponents from 2 to 2 >....@^. y .
> >For example, for 2^607x the exponents are from 2 to 607,
> >which is not many exponents to try.  Thus:
> >
> >pp=: 3 : 0
> > for_e. 2+i.>.2^.y do.
> >  m=. e <....@%: y
> >  if. y=m^x: e do. m,e return. end.
> > end.
> > ''
> >)
> >
> >   pp 81
> >9 2
> >   pp 128
> >2 7
> >   pp 125
> >5 3
> >   pp 2^100x
> >1125899906842624 2
> >   pp <:2^607x
> >
> >   6!:2 'pp <: 2^607x'
> >0.159832
> >
> >pptest=: *...@#@pp
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: Raul Miller <[email protected]>
> >Date: Monday, June 8, 2009 15:32
> >Subject: Re: [Jprogramming] perfect power???
> >To: Programming forum <[email protected]>
> >
> >> On Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 6:13 PM,
> >> <[email protected]> wrote:
> >> > From what I am read in this article, determing if a
> >> > number is a "Perfect Power" should be
> >> > a lot faster.  Either that or I am totally
> mis-reading
> >> > the article.
> >>
> >> Determining if a number is a perfect power is certainly
> >> faster than some algorithm for determining if a number
> >> is prime.
> >>
> >> But do you have any reason to believe J uses that
> >> algorithm, in its implementation of q?
> >>
> >> That said, 1 p: will determine whether or not a number
> >> is prime, and might be faster than 1 = # q: in some
> >> cases.
> >-----------------------------------------------------------
> >----------- For information about J forums see
> >http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm

Reply via email to