Calculate Nth root with integer arithmetic

Question

There are a couple of ways to find integer square roots using only integer arithmetic. For example this one. It makes for interesting reading and also a very interesting the

Answer 1

I made the algorithm in VBA in Excel. For now it only calculates roots of integers. It is easy to implement the decimals as well.

Just copy and paste the code into an EXCEL module and type the name of the function into some cell, passing the parameters.

Public Function RootShift(ByVal radicand As Double, degree As Long, Optional ByRef remainder As Double = 0) As Double

   Dim fullRadicand As String, partialRadicand As String, missingZeroes As Long, digit As Long

   Dim minimalPotency As Double, minimalRemainder As Double, potency As Double

   radicand = Int(radicand)

   degree = Abs(degree)

   fullRadicand = CStr(radicand)

   missingZeroes = degree - Len(fullRadicand) Mod degree

   If missingZeroes < degree Then

      fullRadicand = String(missingZeroes, "0") + fullRadicand

   End If

   remainder = 0

   RootShift = 0

   Do While fullRadicand <> ""

      partialRadicand = Left(fullRadicand, degree)

      fullRadicand = Mid(fullRadicand, degree + 1)

      minimalPotency = (RootShift * 10) ^ degree

      minimalRemainder = remainder * 10 ^ degree + Val(partialRadicand)

      For digit = 9 To 0 Step -1

          potency = (RootShift * 10 + digit) ^ degree - minimalPotency

          If potency <= minimalRemainder Then

             Exit For

          End If

      Next

      RootShift = RootShift * 10 + digit

      remainder = minimalRemainder - potency

   Loop

End Function