Fastest way to determine if an integer's square root is an integer

Question

I\'m looking for the fastest way to determine if a long value is a perfect square (i.e. its square root is another integer):

1. I\'ve done it the ea

Answer 1

Considering for general bit length (though I have used specific type here), I tried to design simplistic algo as below. Simple and obvious check for 0,1,2 or <0 is required initially. Following is simple in sense that it doesn't try to use any existing maths functions. Most of the operator can be replaced with bit-wise operators. I haven't tested with any bench mark data though. I'm neither expert at maths or computer algorithm design in particular, I would love to see you pointing out problem. I know there is lots of improvement chances there.

int main()
{
    unsigned int c1=0 ,c2 = 0;  
    unsigned int x = 0;  
    unsigned int p = 0;  
    int k1 = 0;  
    scanf("%d",&p);  
    if(p % 2 == 0) {  
        x = p/2; 
    }  
    else {  
        x = (p/2) +1;  
    }  
    while(x) 
    {
        if((x*x) > p) {  
            c1 = x;  
            x = x/2; 
        }else {  
            c2 = x;  
            break;  
        }  
    }  
    if((p%2) != 0)  
        c2++;

    while(c2 < c1) 
    {  
        if((c2 * c2 ) == p) {  
            k1 = 1;  
            break;  
        }  
        c2++; 
    }  
    if(k1)  
        printf("\n Perfect square for %d", c2);  
    else  
        printf("\n Not perfect but nearest to :%d :", c2);  
    return 0;  
}