SIMD optimization puzzle

Question

I Want to optimize the following function using SIMD (SSE2 & such):

int64_t fun(int64_t N, int size, int* p)
{
    int64_t sum = 0;
    for(int i=1; i<size; i++)
       sum += (N/i)*p[i];
    return sum;
}

This seems like an eminently vectorizable task, except that the needed instructions just aren't there ...

We can assume that N is very large (10^12 to 10^18) and size~sqrt(N). We can also assume that p can only take values of -1, 0, and 1; so we don't need a real multiplication, the (N/i)*p[i] can be done with four instructions (pcmpgt, pxor, psub, pand), if we could just somehow compute N/i.

Answer 1

The derivative of 1/x is -1/x^2, which means as x gets bigger, N/x==N/(x + 1).

For a known value of N/x (let's call that value r), we can determine the next value of x (let's call that value x' such that N/x'<r:

x'= N/(r - 1)

And since we are dealing with integers:

x'= ceiling(N/(r - 1))

So, the loop becomes something like this:

int64_t sum = 0;   
int i=1; 
int r= N;
while (i<size)
{
    int s= (N + r - 1 - 1)/(r - 1);

    while (i<s && i<size)
    {
        sum += (r)*p[i];
        ++i;
    }

    r= N/s;
}
return sum;   

For sufficiently large N, you will have many many runs of identical values for N/i. Granted, you will hit a divide by zero if you aren't careful.

Answer 2

This is as close as I could get to vectorizing that code. I don't really expect it to be faster. I was just trying my hand at writting SIMD code.

#include <stdint.h>

int64_t fun(int64_t N, int size, const int* p)
{
    int64_t sum = 0;
    int i;
    for(i=1; i<size; i++) {
        sum += (N/i)*p[i];
    }
    return sum;
}

typedef int64_t v2sl __attribute__ ((vector_size (2*sizeof(int64_t))));

int64_t fun_simd(int64_t N, int size, const int* p)
{
    int64_t sum = 0;
    int i;
    v2sl v_2 = { 2, 2 };
    v2sl v_N = { N, N };
    v2sl v_i = { 1, 2 };
    union { v2sl v; int64_t a[2]; } v_sum;

    v_sum.a[0] = 0;
    v_sum.a[1] = 0;
    for(i=1; i<size-1; i+=2) {
        v2sl v_p = { p[i], p[i+1] };
        v_sum.v += (v_N / v_i) * v_p;
        v_i += v_2;
    }
    sum = v_sum.a[0] + v_sum.a[1];
    for(; i<size; i++) {
        sum += (N/i)*p[i];
    }
    return sum;
}

typedef double v2df __attribute__ ((vector_size (2*sizeof(double))));

int64_t fun_simd_double(int64_t N, int size, const int* p)
{
    int64_t sum = 0;
    int i;
    v2df v_2 = { 2, 2 };
    v2df v_N = { N, N };
    v2df v_i = { 1, 2 };
    union { v2df v; double a[2]; } v_sum;

    v_sum.a[0] = 0;
    v_sum.a[1] = 0;
    for(i=1; i<size-1; i+=2) {
        v2df v_p = { p[i], p[i+1] };
        v_sum.v += (v_N / v_i) * v_p;
        v_i += v_2;
    }
    sum = v_sum.a[0] + v_sum.a[1];
    for(; i<size; i++) {
        sum += (N/i)*p[i];
    }
    return sum;
}

#include <stdio.h>

static const int test_array[] = {
 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0,
 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0,
 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0,
 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0,
 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0,
 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0,
 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0,
 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0,
 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0,
 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0,
 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0,
 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0,
 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0,
 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0,
 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0,
 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0,
 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0,
 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0,
 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0,
 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0,
 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, -1, 0
};
#define test_array_len (sizeof(test_array)/sizeof(int))

#define big_N (1024 * 1024 * 1024)

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
    int64_t res1;
    int64_t res2;
    int64_t res3;
    v2sl a = { 123, 456 };
    v2sl b = { 100, 200 };
    union { v2sl v; int64_t a[2]; } tmp;

    a = a + b;
    tmp.v = a;
    printf("a = { %ld, %ld }\n", tmp.a[0], tmp.a[1]);

    printf("test_array size = %zd\n", test_array_len);

    res1 = fun(big_N, test_array_len, test_array);
    printf("fun() = %ld\n", res1);

    res2 = fun_simd(big_N, test_array_len, test_array);
    printf("fun_simd() = %ld\n", res2);

    res3 = fun_simd_double(big_N, test_array_len, test_array);
    printf("fun_simd_double() = %ld\n", res3);

    return 0;
}

Answer 3

The cost is concentrated in computing the divisions. There is no opcode in SSE2 for integral divisions, so you would have to implement a division algorithm yourself, bit by bit. I do not think it would be worth the effort: SSE2 allow you to perform two instances in parallel (you use 64-bit numbers, and SSE2 registers are 128-bit) but I find it likely that a handmade division algorithm would be at least twice as slow as the CPU idiv opcode.

(By the way, do you compile in 32-bit or 64-bit mode ? The latter will be more comfortable with 64-bit integers.)

Reducing the overall number of divisions looks like a more promising way. One may note that for positive integers x and y, then floor(x/(2y)) = floor(floor(x/y)/2). In C terminology, once you have computed N/i (truncated division) then you just have to shift it right by one bit to obtain N/(2*i). Used properly, this makes half of your divisions almost free (that "properly" also includes accessing the billions of p[i] values in a way which does not wreak havoc with the caches, so it does not seem very easy).

Answer 4

I suggest you do this with floating point SIMD operations - either single or double precision depending on your accuracy requirements. Conversion from int to float or double is relatively fast using SSE.