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A Fun Perfect Square Checker Using Integer Arithmetic Only... ;o) (Bash recipe) by Barry Walker
ActiveState Code (http://code.activestate.com/recipes/578934/)

A recent Python upload here gave me the inspiration to do a bash version... This is a little tongue-in-cheek but an enjoyable bit of fun.

It took around 11 seconds to prove 90000000000 had a perfect square of 300000...

It is a stand alone program and has a degree of INPUT error correction...

It was done on a MacBook Pro, OSX 10.7.5, default bash terminal and should work on Linux flavours but it is untested...

Enjoy finding simple solutions to often very difficult problems...

Bazza...

Bash, 70 lines
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#!/bin/bash
# perfect_square <number>
number=$1
if [ "$number" -eq "$number" ] > /dev/null 2>&1 
then
	if [ $number -lt 0 ]
	then
		echo "Warning! Integer is negative!!!"
		echo "Set input integer to the DEMO value of 99..."
		number=99
	fi
else
	echo "Invalid Argument! Set input integer to the DEMO value of 100..."
	number=100
fi
series=1
square=1
root=1
while true
do
	if [ $square -le $number ]
	then
		if [ $square -eq $number ]
		then
			echo "$number is the perfect square of $root..."
			exit 0
		fi
		root=$((root+1))
		series=$((series+2))
		square=$((square+series))
	else
		echo "Integer $number is not a perfect square..."
		exit 1
	fi
done
exit 0
# Last login: Tue Sep 16 20:12:27 on ttys000
# AMIGA:barrywalker~> chmod 755 perfect_square
# AMIGA:barrywalker~> ./perfect_square ierooeirt
# Invalid Argument! Set input integer to the DEMO value of 100...
# 100 is the perfect square of 10...
# AMIGA:barrywalker~> ./perfect_square -345
# Warning! Integer is negative!!!
# Set input integer to the DEMO value of 99...
# Integer 99 is not a perfect square...
# AMIGA:barrywalker~> ./perfect_square 0
# Integer 0 is not a perfect square...
# AMIGA:barrywalker~> ./perfect_square 123.9
# Invalid Argument! Set input integer to the DEMO value of 100...
# 100 is the perfect square of 10...
# AMIGA:barrywalker~> ./perfect_square 625
# 625 is the perfect square of 25...
# AMIGA:barrywalker~> ./perfect_square 1
# 1 is the perfect square of 1...
# AMIGA:barrywalker~> ./perfect_square 11111
# Integer 11111 is not a perfect square...
# AMIGA:barrywalker~> ./perfect_square oiwero11234ldkf
# Invalid Argument! Set input integer to the DEMO value of 100...
# 100 is the perfect square of 10...
# AMIGA:barrywalker~> ./perfect_square -0.0
# Invalid Argument! Set input integer to the DEMO value of 100...
# 100 is the perfect square of 10...
# AMIGA:barrywalker~> ./perfect_square -1.25
# Invalid Argument! Set input integer to the DEMO value of 100...
# 100 is the perfect square of 10...
# AMIGA:barrywalker~> ./perfect_square -1
# Warning! Integer is negative!!!
# Set input integer to the DEMO value of 99...
# Integer 99 is not a perfect square...
# AMIGA:barrywalker~> _

This is complete;y issued as CC0, you may do with it as you please... ;o)

Remember this is a little tongue-in-cheek and requires nothing special but an OSX 10.7.5, default bash terminal.

I would be interested in other *NIX style platforms as my Linux machines are temporarily down...

Tags: arithmetic, bash, check, checker, cygwin, macbook_pro, math, mathematics, perfect, root, square

1 comment

Barry Walker (author) 9 years, 7 months ago  # | flag

Now tested on CygWin and works as predicted except more slowly. Have fun... ;o)