Euclidean greatest common divisor for more than two numbers

Question

Can someone give an example for finding greatest common divisor algorithm for more than two numbers?

I believe programming language doesn\'t matter.

Answer 1

I just updated a Wiki page on this.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_GCD_algorithm#C.2B.2B_template_class]

This takes an arbitrary number of terms. use GCD(5, 2, 30, 25, 90, 12);

template AType GCD(int nargs, ...)
{
    va_list arglist;
    va_start(arglist, nargs);

    AType *terms = new AType[nargs];

    // put values into an array
    for (int i = 0; i < nargs; i++) 
    {
        terms[i] = va_arg(arglist, AType);
        if (terms[i] < 0)
        {
            va_end(arglist);
            return (AType)0;
        }
    }
    va_end(arglist);

    int shift = 0;
    int numEven = 0;
    int numOdd = 0;
    int smallindex = -1;

    do
    {
        numEven = 0;
        numOdd = 0;
        smallindex = -1;

        // count number of even and odd
        for (int i = 0; i < nargs; i++)
        {
            if (terms[i] == 0)
                continue;

            if (terms[i] & 1)
                numOdd++;
            else
                numEven++;

            if ((smallindex < 0) || terms[i] < terms[smallindex])
            {
                smallindex = i;
            }
        }

        // check for exit
        if (numEven + numOdd == 1)
            continue;

        // If everything in S is even, divide everything in S by 2, and then multiply the final answer by 2 at the end.
        if (numOdd == 0)
        {
            shift++;
            for (int i = 0; i < nargs; i++)
            {
                if (terms[i] == 0)
                    continue;

                terms[i] >>= 1;
            }
        }

        // If some numbers in S  are even and some are odd, divide all the even numbers by 2.
        if (numEven > 0 && numOdd > 0)
        {
            for (int i = 0; i < nargs; i++)
            {
                if (terms[i] == 0)
                    continue;

                if ((terms[i] & 1)  == 0) 
                    terms[i] >>= 1;
            }
        }

        //If every number in S is odd, then choose an arbitrary element of S and call it k.
        //Replace every other element, say n, with | n−k | / 2.
        if (numEven == 0)
        {
            for (int i = 0; i < nargs; i++)
            {
                if (i == smallindex || terms[i] == 0)
                    continue;

                terms[i] = abs(terms[i] - terms[smallindex]) >> 1;
            }
        }

    } while (numEven + numOdd > 1);

    // only one remaining element multiply the final answer by 2s at the end.
    for (int i = 0; i < nargs; i++)
    {
        if (terms[i] == 0)
            continue;

        return terms[i] << shift;
    }
    return 0;
};