Math optimization in C#

Question

I\'ve been profiling an application all day long and, having optimized a couple bits of code, I\'m left with this on my todo list. It\'s the activation function for a neural

Answer 1

FWIW, here's my C# benchmarks for the answers already posted. (Empty is a function that just returns 0, to measure the function call overhead)

Empty Function:       79ms   0
Original:             1576ms 0.7202294
Simplified: (soprano) 681ms  0.7202294
Approximate: (Neil)   441ms  0.7198783
Bit Manip: (martinus) 836ms  0.72318
Taylor: (Rex Logan)   261ms  0.7202305
Lookup: (Henrik)      182ms  0.7204863

public static object[] Time(Func f) {
    var testvalue = 0.9456;
    var sw = new Stopwatch();
    sw.Start();
    for (int i = 0; i < 1e7; i++)
        f(testvalue);
    return new object[] { sw.ElapsedMilliseconds, f(testvalue) };
}
public static void Main(string[] args) {
    Console.WriteLine("Empty:       {0,10}ms {1}", Time(Empty));
    Console.WriteLine("Original:    {0,10}ms {1}", Time(Original));
    Console.WriteLine("Simplified:  {0,10}ms {1}", Time(Simplified));
    Console.WriteLine("Approximate: {0,10}ms {1}", Time(ExpApproximation));
    Console.WriteLine("Bit Manip:   {0,10}ms {1}", Time(BitBashing));
    Console.WriteLine("Taylor:      {0,10}ms {1}", Time(TaylorExpansion));
    Console.WriteLine("Lookup:      {0,10}ms {1}", Time(LUT));
}