Greatest Common DivisorLeast Common Multiple
Greatest Common DivisorThe class and function templates in <boost/math/common_factor.hpp> provide run-time and compile-time evaluation of the greatest common divisor (GCD) or least common multiple (LCM) of two integers. These facilities are useful for many numeric-oriented generic programming problems.
This header simply includes the headers <boost/math/common_factor_ct.hpp> and <boost/math/common_factor_rt.hpp>. It used to contain the code, but the compile-time and run-time facilities were moved to separate headers (since they were independent), and this header maintains compatibility.
namespace boost
{
namespace math
{
template < typename IntegerType >
class gcd_evaluator;
template < typename IntegerType >
class lcm_evaluator;
template < typename IntegerType >
IntegerType gcd( IntegerType const &a, IntegerType const &b );
template < typename IntegerType >
IntegerType lcm( IntegerType const &a, IntegerType const &b );
template < unsigned long Value1, unsigned long Value2 >
struct static_gcd;
template < unsigned long Value1, unsigned long Value2 >
struct static_lcm;
}
}
template < typename IntegerType >
class boost::math::gcd_evaluator
{
public:
// Types
typedef IntegerType result_type;
typedef IntegerType first_argument_type;
typedef IntegerType second_argument_type;
// Function object interface
result_type operator ()( first_argument_type const &a,
second_argument_type const &b ) const;
};
The boost::math::gcd_evaluator class template defines a
function object class to return the greatest common divisor of two
integers. The template is parameterized by a single type, called
IntegerType here. This type should be a numeric type that
represents integers. The result of the function object is always
nonnegative, even if either of the operator arguments is negative.
This function object class template is used in the corresponding
version of the GCD function template. If a
numeric type wants to customize evaluations of its greatest common
divisors, then the type should specialize on the
gcd_evaluator class template.
template < typename IntegerType >
class boost::math::lcm_evaluator
{
public:
// Types
typedef IntegerType result_type;
typedef IntegerType first_argument_type;
typedef IntegerType second_argument_type;
// Function object interface
result_type operator ()( first_argument_type const &a,
second_argument_type const &b ) const;
};
The boost::math::lcm_evaluator class template defines a
function object class to return the least common multiple of two
integers. The template is parameterized by a single type, called
IntegerType here. This type should be a numeric type that
represents integers. The result of the function object is always
nonnegative, even if either of the operator arguments is negative. If
the least common multiple is beyond the range of the integer type, the
results are undefined.
This function object class template is used in the corresponding
version of the LCM function template. If a
numeric type wants to customize evaluations of its least common
multiples, then the type should specialize on the
lcm_evaluator class template.
template < typename IntegerType > IntegerType boost::math::gcd( IntegerType const &a, IntegerType const &b ); template < typename IntegerType > IntegerType boost::math::lcm( IntegerType const &a, IntegerType const &b );
The boost::math::gcd function template returns the
greatest common (nonnegative) divisor of the two integers passed to it.
The boost::math::lcm function template returns the least
common (nonnegative) multiple of the two integers passed to it. The
function templates are parameterized on the function arguments'
IntegerType, which is also the return type. Internally,
these function templates use an object of the corresponding version of
the gcd_evaluator and lcm_evaluator class templates,
respectively.
template < unsigned long Value1, unsigned long Value2 >
struct boost::math::static_gcd
{
static unsigned long const value = implementation_defined;
};
template < unsigned long Value1, unsigned long Value2 >
struct boost::math::static_lcm
{
static unsigned long const value = implementation_defined;
};
The boost::math::static_gcd and
boost::math::static_lcm class templates take two
value-based template parameters of the unsigned long type
and have a single static constant data member, value, of
that same type. The value of that member is the greatest common factor
or least common multiple, respectively, of the template arguments. A
compile-time error will occur if the least common multiple is beyond the
range of an unsigned long.
#include <boost/math/common_factor.hpp>
#include <algorithm>
#include <iterator>
int main()
{
using std::cout;
using std::endl;
cout << "The GCD and LCM of 6 and 15 are "
<< boost::math::gcd(6, 15) << " and "
<< boost::math::lcm(6, 15) << ", respectively."
<< endl;
cout << "The GCD and LCM of 8 and 9 are "
<< boost::math::static_gcd<8, 9>::value
<< " and "
<< boost::math::static_lcm<8, 9>::value
<< ", respectively." << endl;
int a[] = { 4, 5, 6 }, b[] = { 7, 8, 9 }, c[3];
std::transform( a, a + 3, b, c, boost::math::gcd_evaluator<int>() );
std::copy( c, c + 3, std::ostream_iterator<int>(cout, " ") );
}
The program common_factor_test.cpp is a demonstration of the results from instantiating various examples of the run-time GCD and LCM function templates and the compile-time GCD and LCM class templates. (The run-time GCD and LCM class templates are tested indirectly through the run-time function templates.)
The greatest common divisor and least common multiple functions are greatly used in some numeric contexts, including some of the other Boost libraries. Centralizing these functions to one header improves code factoring and eases maintainence.
The author of the Boost compilation of GCD and LCM computations is Daryle Walker. The code was prompted by existing code hiding in the implementations of Paul Moore's rational library and Steve Cleary's pool library. The code had updates by Helmut Zeisel.
Revised July 2, 2002
© Copyright Daryle Walker 2001-2002. Permission to copy, use, modify, sell and distribute this document is granted provided this copyright notice appears in all copies. This document is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty, and with no claim as to its suitability for any purpose.