How to avoid overflow in expr. A * B - C * D

Question

I need to compute an expression which looks like: A*B - C*D, where their types are: signed long long int A, B, C, D; Each number can be really big (not

Answer 1

I may not have covered all of the edge cases, nor have I rigorously tested this but this implements a technique I remember using in the 80s when trying to do 32-bit integer maths on a 16-bit cpu. Essentially you split the 32 bits into two 16-bit units and work with them separately.

public class DoubleMaths {
  private static class SplitLong {
    // High half (or integral part).
    private final long h;
    // Low half.
    private final long l;
    // Split.
    private static final int SPLIT = (Long.SIZE / 2);

    // Make from an existing pair.
    private SplitLong(long h, long l) {
      // Let l overflow into h.
      this.h = h + (l >> SPLIT);
      this.l = l % (1l << SPLIT);
    }

    public SplitLong(long v) {
      h = v >> SPLIT;
      l = v % (1l << SPLIT);
    }

    public long longValue() {
      return (h << SPLIT) + l;
    }

    public SplitLong add ( SplitLong b ) {
      // TODO: Check for overflow.
      return new SplitLong ( longValue() + b.longValue() );
    }

    public SplitLong sub ( SplitLong b ) {
      // TODO: Check for overflow.
      return new SplitLong ( longValue() - b.longValue() );
    }

    public SplitLong mul ( SplitLong b ) {
      /*
       * e.g. 10 * 15 = 150
       * 
       * Divide 10 and 15 by 5
       * 
       * 2 * 3 = 5
       * 
       * Must therefore multiply up by 5 * 5 = 25
       * 
       * 5 * 25 = 150
       */
      long lbl = l * b.l;
      long hbh = h * b.h;
      long lbh = l * b.h;
      long hbl = h * b.l;
      return new SplitLong ( lbh + hbl, lbl + hbh );
    }

    @Override
    public String toString () {
      return Long.toHexString(h)+"|"+Long.toHexString(l);
    }
  }

  // I'll use long and int but this can apply just as easily to long-long and long.
  // The aim is to calculate A*B - C*D without overflow.
  static final long A = Long.MAX_VALUE;
  static final long B = Long.MAX_VALUE - 1;
  static final long C = Long.MAX_VALUE;
  static final long D = Long.MAX_VALUE - 2;

  public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
    // First do it with BigIntegers to get what the result should be.
    BigInteger a = BigInteger.valueOf(A);
    BigInteger b = BigInteger.valueOf(B);
    BigInteger c = BigInteger.valueOf(C);
    BigInteger d = BigInteger.valueOf(D);
    BigInteger answer = a.multiply(b).subtract(c.multiply(d));
    System.out.println("A*B - C*D = "+answer+" = "+answer.toString(16));

    // Make one and test its integrity.
    SplitLong sla = new SplitLong(A);
    System.out.println("A="+Long.toHexString(A)+" ("+sla.toString()+") = "+Long.toHexString(sla.longValue()));

    // Start small.
    SplitLong sl10 = new SplitLong(10);
    SplitLong sl15 = new SplitLong(15);
    SplitLong sl150 = sl10.mul(sl15);
    System.out.println("10="+sl10.longValue()+"("+sl10.toString()+") * 15="+sl15.longValue()+"("+sl15.toString()+") = "+sl150.longValue() + " ("+sl150.toString()+")");

    // The real thing.
    SplitLong slb = new SplitLong(B);
    SplitLong slc = new SplitLong(C);
    SplitLong sld = new SplitLong(D);
    System.out.println("B="+Long.toHexString(B)+" ("+slb.toString()+") = "+Long.toHexString(slb.longValue()));
    System.out.println("C="+Long.toHexString(C)+" ("+slc.toString()+") = "+Long.toHexString(slc.longValue()));
    System.out.println("D="+Long.toHexString(D)+" ("+sld.toString()+") = "+Long.toHexString(sld.longValue()));
    SplitLong sanswer = sla.mul(slb).sub(slc.mul(sld));
    System.out.println("A*B - C*D = "+sanswer+" = "+sanswer.longValue());

  }

}

Prints:

A*B - C*D = 9223372036854775807 = 7fffffffffffffff
A=7fffffffffffffff (7fffffff|ffffffff) = 7fffffffffffffff
10=10(0|a) * 15=15(0|f) = 150 (0|96)
B=7ffffffffffffffe (7fffffff|fffffffe) = 7ffffffffffffffe
C=7fffffffffffffff (7fffffff|ffffffff) = 7fffffffffffffff
D=7ffffffffffffffd (7fffffff|fffffffd) = 7ffffffffffffffd
A*B - C*D = 7fffffff|ffffffff = 9223372036854775807

which looks to me like it's working.

I bet I've missed some of the subtleties such as watching for sign overflow etc. but I think the essence is there.

Answer 2

AB-CD = (AB-CD) * AC / AC = (B/C-D/A)*A*C. Neither B/C nor D/A can overflow, so calculate (B/C-D/A) first. Since the final result won't overflow according to your definition, you can safely perform the remaining multiplications and calculate (B/C-D/A)*A*C which is the required result.

Note, if your input can be extremely small as well, the B/C or D/A can overflow. If it's possible, more complex manipulations might be required according to input inspection.

Answer 3

E = max(A,B,C,D)
A1 = A -E;
B1 = B -E;
C1 = C -E;
D1 = D -E;

then

A*B - C*D = (A1+E)*(B1+E)-(C1+E)(D1+E) = (A1+B1-C1-D1)*E + A1*B1 -C1*D1