French mathematician Pierre de Fermat wrote a “little theorem” in 1640 that is now the basis of modern computer cryptography.
The Fast Inverse Square Root is an algorithm that estimates 1/sqrt(x), a very important calculation in computer graphics. Early computers struggled when calculating this value but a programmer solved this mathematical problem…while programming Quake 3. His solution to the problem wasn’t discovered until the source code for the game was released.
The fast inverse square root algorithm was known from the 80’s, and was used in at least one game I’m aware of before Quake 3. Also, it wasn’t important in the long run - the same year Quake 3 was released, the rsqrtss instruction was introduced by Intel, which made this algorithm obsolete (as it was faster and more accurate).
French mathematician Pierre de Fermat wrote a “little theorem” in 1640 that is now the basis of modern computer cryptography.
The Fast Inverse Square Root is an algorithm that estimates 1/sqrt(x), a very important calculation in computer graphics. Early computers struggled when calculating this value but a programmer solved this mathematical problem…while programming Quake 3. His solution to the problem wasn’t discovered until the source code for the game was released.
The fast inverse square root algorithm was known from the 80’s, and was used in at least one game I’m aware of before Quake 3. Also, it wasn’t important in the long run - the same year Quake 3 was released, the rsqrtss instruction was introduced by Intel, which made this algorithm obsolete (as it was faster and more accurate).
It is really cool though.
A programmer… Sir that is John Carmack