Challenge: find the first value where two functions differ

[Steve D'Aprano]

On Sat, 5 Aug 2017 02:31 am, MRAB wrote:

> Why would isqrt_float not give the correct answer? Probably because of
> truncation (or rounding up?) of the floating point. I'd expect it to
> fail first near a square.

Assuming your math.sqrt() is an IEEE-754 correctly-rounded square root, and that
int() correctly truncates, the only source of errors is that not all integers
are representable as floats.

No integer larger than or equal to 2**1024 can be represented as a float.

No *odd* integer larger than 2**53 can be represented as a float.

Between 2**53 and 2**54, float can only represent multiples of 2.

Between 2**54 and 2**55, float can only represent multiples of 4.

Between 2**55 and 2**56, float can only represent multiples of 8.

And so on. 



-- 
Steve
“Cheer up,” they said, “things could be worse.” So I cheered up, and sure
enough, things got worse.