Euclidean GCD in C++

Algorithms: Number Theory November 15, 2026 C++

The Euclidean algorithm finds the greatest common divisor by replacing a pair with the smaller number and the remainder.

cpp
 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
#include <stdio.h>
#include <vector>
#include <algorithm>
#include <stdexcept>
#include <cstdint>
#include <limits>
// Euclidean GCD in C++
//
// PURPOSE
// The Euclidean algorithm finds the greatest common divisor by replacing a pair with the
// smaller number and the remainder. Common divisors are preserved by this replacement.
//
// METHOD
// Repeatedly compute a modulo b, move b into a, and put the remainder into b. Stop when b is
// zero; the last nonzero value divides both original inputs.
//
// COMPLEXITY
// O(log(min(a,b))) arithmetic steps for positive inputs, O(1) auxiliary space.
//
// CONTRACT
// a and b are nonnegative integers. Defines gcd(0,0) as 0. Avoid negative values because
// remainder conventions vary by language.
// Public APIs infer array lengths except in C, which accepts pointer/length pairs. Vertex
// counts and matrix dimensions remain explicit. Arrays must contain signed 32-bit integers.
// Sorted order, correct tree topology, and caller-owned data-structure invariants are
// preconditions; checking them on every query would change query complexity.
// Scalar and shape checks are included. Value-range checks are included where needed to
// prevent invalid indexing or nontermination. Allocation sizes are capped at 4,000,000
// workspace entries. Arithmetic outside Python raises an error on 32-bit overflow; Python
// uses arbitrary precision. Native allocation failures propagate. In-place outputs may be
// partly updated after arithmetic failure. These are single-threaded, in-memory
// implementations.
//
// LANGUAGE DETAILS
// C++17: const vector references for inputs, mutable references for outputs, RAII workspace,
// standard lower_bound for LIS. Invalid inputs throw invalid_argument; overflow throws
// overflow_error; allocation failure propagates bad_alloc.
//
// EXAMPLE
// Expected return: 6.
// Run: g++ -std=c++17 -O2 example.cpp -o example && ./example
// Tests for this exact source artifact run before publication. The accompanying source
// archive includes unit cases, runtime results, and source hashes.

static int alg_min(int a, int b) { return a < b ? a : b; }
static int alg_max(int a, int b) { return a > b ? a : b; }
static void alg_require(bool valid) { if (!valid) throw std::invalid_argument("invalid algorithm input"); }
static int alg_checked(int64_t v) { if (v < INT32_MIN || v > INT32_MAX) throw std::overflow_error("32-bit result overflow"); return (int)v; }
static int alg_add(int a,int b) { return alg_checked((int64_t)a+b); }
static int alg_sub(int a,int b) { return alg_checked((int64_t)a-b); }
static int alg_mul(int a,int b) { return alg_checked((int64_t)a*b); }
static size_t alg_size(int n) { alg_require(n>=0 && n<=4000000); return (size_t)n; }

int gcd(int a, int b) {
    alg_require(((a >= 0) && (b >= 0)));
    int remainder = 0;
    while ((b != 0)) {
        remainder = (a % b);
        a = b;
        b = remainder;
    }
    return a;
}

int main(void) {
    int a = 48;
    int b = 18;
    int result = gcd(a, b);
    printf("%d\n", result);
    return 0;
}