Comparison without relational operators

Source: Quant interview at Religare Technova

Problem: Write a C program to compare two integers without using relational operators (== != < <= > >=)
 

Comments

  1. int d = a - b;
    if(d)
    {
    // a is not equal to b

    if( d - abs(d) )
    {
    // d was negative => b > a
    }
    else
    {
    // d was positive => a > b
    }
    }
    else
    {
    // a == b :)
    }

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In the implementation of abs(), a relational operator is used to determine whether the number passed is less than or greater than zero.

      Delete
  2. say 2 nos are a and b in their n-bit representations. subtract b from a by taking 2's complement of b and adding it to a, multiply it by 100...(n-1 0s). then right-shift the no n-1 times. call it c. multiply c by b. then complement c, multiply it by a. now max = b*c+a*(complement of c)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Will this work?

    int compare(int64_t a, int64_t b)
    {
    return ((uint64_t) (a - b)) >> 63;
    }

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sorry but i couldn't make it simpler..

    #include
    #include
    int maximum(int x,int y)
    {
    return(x+y+sqrt(-2*y*x +x*x + y*y))/2;
    }

    int main()
    {
    int a,b,c;
    scanf("%d%d",&a,&b);
    c=maximum(a,b);
    printf("\n%d",c);
    }

    ReplyDelete
  5. int main () {

    int a,b;
    printf ( "enter the two values u like to compare\n");
    scanf (" %d %d",&a,&b);

    if (!(a ^ b))
    printf ("both are equal\n);
    else
    printf ("both are not equal\n");
    }

    ReplyDelete
  6. int ret_max(int a, int b){
    int c=a,d=b;
    while (c&d){
    c&=(c-1);
    c&=(d-1);
    }
    if (c)
    return a;
    else // also takes care of equality
    return b;
    }

    ReplyDelete
  7. //to check if no's are equal
    if(!(a^b))
    print(equal)
    else if (a/b)
    print(b greater than a)
    else
    print(a greater than b)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. //this should be vice versa
      else if (a/b)
      print(a greater than b)
      else
      print(b greater than a)

      //also this will not work if one number is negative for example a = 1 and b = -5.

      Delete

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