![\"Hammurabi\"](\"https:\/\/c-for-dummies.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/04_hammurabi-can-code-that.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
When I sought to write my own square root function<\/a> back in 2020, I based it on a series of steps from the math.com website<\/a>. I figured, “Hey! These guys are math nerds. They know their stuff.” Turns out, the ancient Babylonians beat them to the punch — and have a better method for calculating a square root. Yes, even my version of the steps is confusing. So, Figure 1 attempts to illustrate the process, where Steps 1 and 2 (in the Figure) repeat a given number of times to obtain the square root of value Figure 1. The Babylonian Method of finding the square root.<\/p><\/div>\n In Figure 1, I removed the part about guessing the greater-than and less-than values. Instead, and in my exercise solution, I start the process by using the positive integer itself ( The more times you repeat Steps 1 and 2 (from Figure 1), the more precise the result. In my tests, seven times was adequate to obtain identical results as the C library’s sqrt()<\/em> function, though some answers may suffer from the expected precision errors as floating-point calculations do.<\/p>\n Your task for this month’s Exercise is to write the function babylonian_sr()<\/em>, which uses the Babylonian Method to calculate a square root. The function need not be recursive; I didn’t use recursion in my solution.<\/p>\n Here is a source code skeleton you can use for your solution:<\/p>\n This code prompts the user for a positive integer. This value is sent to the babylonian_sr()<\/em> function, which calculates the square root to seven digits of precision. The value is returned from the function as a double<\/em>, which is output in the main()<\/em> function.<\/p>\n Here is a sample run of my solution:<\/p>\n Please try this Exercise on your own before you peek at my solution<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" O, those clever Babylonians! Can you translate their square root technique into C code? Continue reading
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\nWhen they weren’t conquering or being conquered, the Babylonians devised a method for calculating square roots that involves averages and division. I’ve seen it explained a few times, but the math nerds tend to make the procedure sound more complex than it is. Here’s my take:<\/p>\n\n
root<\/code>.<\/p>\n![\"Babylonian](\"https:\/\/c-for-dummies.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/0401-figure1.png\")
root<\/code>) and 1.0. Then I repeat the steps from there, which may take longer but it codes more efficiently.<\/p>\n2022_04_01-Lesson.c<\/a><\/h3>\n
\r\n#include <stdio.h>\r\n\r\ndouble babylonian_sr(double root)\r\n{\r\n}\r\n\r\nint main()\r\n{\r\n double pv,sr;\r\n\r\n printf(\"Enter a positive value: \");\r\n scanf(\"%lf\",&pv);\r\n if( pv <= 0 )\r\n return(1);\r\n sr = babylonian_sr(pv);\r\n printf(\"The square root of %.0f is %f\\n\",\r\n pv,\r\n sr\r\n );\r\n\r\n return(0);\r\n}<\/pre>\nEnter a positive value: 5
\nThe square root of 5 is 2.236068<\/code><\/p>\n