Re: Alternative to Timing[10000!] benchmark
- To: mathgroup at yoda.physics.unc.edu
- Subject: Re: Alternative to Timing[10000!] benchmark
- From: rubin at msu.edu (Paul A. Rubin)
- Date: Tue, 5 Jul 94 15:57:04 EDT
>Instead of the rather dodgy "Timing[10000!]" benchmark for performance, >the following seems a better way of measuring the elapsed time taken to do a >calculation (as Timing[] supposedly measures CPU time): > In[1]:= start=AbsoluteTime[]; Print[Short[10000!]]; AbsoluteTime[]-start > >For the Windows 387 Version 2.2 running on a Compaq Despro 433i PC, I get the >result > Out[1]= 137 > >And on the DEC Alpha OSF/1 Version 2.2 version, running on a DEC 3000 Model >400, I get > Out[1]= 13.59984 > >The "Short[10000!]" means that the timing isn't affected by the time taken >to print 36000 digits to your VDU. > >What results to Mathgroupers get with this on their machines? > >Paul E Howland > >Long Range Radar Sensors Section tel. + 44 684 895767 >CSS2 Division, Room BY209 fax. + 44 684 896315 >Defence Research Agency email: PEHOWLAND at DRA.HMG.GB >Malvern, Worcs, WR14 3PS, UK. >----------------------------------------------------------------------------- On a Gateway 2000 P5-90 (90 MHz Pentium), 16 MB RAM, running Mma 2.2.2 under Windows for Workgroups 3.11, I got 29 seconds the first try, 22 every try thereafter. (Mma was the only open window, which can make a difference, as can the amount of RAM.) I've noticed that many expressions in Mma evaluate faster on the second and subsequent go-arounds, not just those that store a result (such as f[x_] := f[x] = ...), so I always take multiple shots at timing measurements. Paul Rubin ************************************************************************** * Paul A. Rubin Phone: (517) 336-3509 * * Department of Management Fax: (517) 336-1111 * * Eli Broad Graduate School of Management Net: RUBIN at MSU.EDU * * Michigan State University * * East Lansing, MI 48824-1122 (USA) * ************************************************************************** Mathematicians are like Frenchmen: whenever you say something to them, they translate it into their own language, and at once it is something entirely different. J. W. v. GOETHE