title: Binary GCD Algorithm vs. Euclid's Algorithm on modern computers
body: <p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_GCD_algorithm">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_GCD_algorithm</a></p>
  
  <p>This Wikipedia entry has a very dissatisfying implication: the Binary GCD algorithm was at one time as much as 60% more efficient than the standard Euclid Algorithm, but as late as 1998 Knuth concluded that there was only a 15% gain in efficiency on his contemporary computers.</p>
  
  <p>Well another 15 years has passed... how do these two algorithms stack today with advances in hardware?</p>
  
  <p>Does the Binary GCD continue to outperform the Euclidean Algorithm in low-level languages but languish behind due to its complexity in higher level languages like Java?  Or is the difference moot in modern computing?</p>
  
  <p>Why do I care you might ask?  I just so happen to have to process like 100 billion of these today :)  Here's a toast to living in an era of computing (poor Euclid).</p>