How to calculate simple moving average faster in C#?

Question

What is the fastest library/algorithm for calculating simple moving average? I wrote my own, but it takes too long on 330 000 items decimal dataset.

• period /

Answer 1

You don't need to keep a running queue. Just pick the latest new entry to the window and drop off the older entry. Notice that this only uses one loop and no extra storage other than a sum.

  // n is the window for your Simple Moving Average
  public List GetMovingAverages(List prices, int n)
  {
    var movingAverages = new double[prices.Count];
    var runningTotal = 0.0d;       

    for (int i = 0; i < prices.Count; ++i)
    {
      runningTotal += prices[i].Value;
      if( i - n >= 0) {
        var lost = prices[i - n].Value;
        runningTotal -= lost;
        movingAverages[i] = runningTotal / n;
      }
    }
    return movingAverages.ToList();
  }