optimized atan2 approximation

atan2_approximation.c

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <math.h>

float atan2_approximation1(float y, float x);
float atan2_approximation2(float y, float x);

int main()
{
    float x = 1;
    float y = 0;


    for( y = 0; y < 2*M_PI; y+= 0.1 )
    {
        for(x = 0; x < 2*M_PI; x+= 0.1)
        {
            printf("atan2 for %f,%f: %f \n", y, x, atan2(y, x));
            printf("approx1 for %f,%f: %f \n", y, x, atan2_approximation1(y, x));
            printf("approx2 for %f,%f: %f \n \n", y, x, atan2_approximation2(y, x));
            getch();
        }
    }


    return 0;
}

float atan2_approximation1(float y, float x)
{
    //http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/functions/atan2.html
    //Volkan SALMA

    const float ONEQTR_PI = M_PI / 4.0;
	const float THRQTR_PI = 3.0 * M_PI / 4.0;
	float r, angle;
	float abs_y = fabs(y) + 1e-10f;      // kludge to prevent 0/0 condition
	if ( x < 0.0f )
	{
		r = (x + abs_y) / (abs_y - x);
		angle = THRQTR_PI;
	}
	else
	{
		r = (x - abs_y) / (x + abs_y);
		angle = ONEQTR_PI;
	}
	angle += (0.1963f * r * r - 0.9817f) * r;
	if ( y < 0.0f )
		return( -angle );     // negate if in quad III or IV
	else
		return( angle );


}

#define PI_FLOAT     3.14159265f
#define PIBY2_FLOAT  1.5707963f
// |error| < 0.005
float atan2_approximation2( float y, float x )
{
	if ( x == 0.0f )
	{
		if ( y > 0.0f ) return PIBY2_FLOAT;
		if ( y == 0.0f ) return 0.0f;
		return -PIBY2_FLOAT;
	}
	float atan;
	float z = y/x;
	if ( fabs( z ) < 1.0f )
	{
		atan = z/(1.0f + 0.28f*z*z);
		if ( x < 0.0f )
		{
			if ( y < 0.0f ) return atan - PI_FLOAT;
			return atan + PI_FLOAT;
		}
	}
	else
	{
		atan = PIBY2_FLOAT - z/(z*z + 0.28f);
		if ( y < 0.0f ) return atan - PI_FLOAT;
	}
	return atan;
}

if ( x == 0.0f )  // line 62
if ( y == 0.0f ) return 0.0f;  // line 65

Do these lines ever get executed (in cases where 0.0f is not explicitly used as the argument, but rather is a result of some calculation that evaluates "sufficiently close" to 0.0f)?

approximation1 can be made branchless using std::copysign and std::fabs - which boil down to simple bitwise logic.

float atan2_approx(float y, float x) {
	float abs_y = std::fabs(y) + 1e-10f;      // kludge to prevent 0/0 condition
	float r = (x - std::copysign(abs_y, x)) / (abs_y + std::fabs(x));
	float angle = M_PI/2.f - std::copysign(M_PI/4.f, x);

	angle += (0.1963f * r * r - 0.9817f) * r;
	return std::copysign(angle, y);
}

I was pointing out the fact they used a compare operation to 0.0 float. That will be true very seldom (to put it mildly) and - according to my knowledge - shall be avoided. Let me think about your code snippet above (interesting kludge of 1e-10f ;)

the kludge line comes from approximation1, you were pointing out the comparisons in approximation2. Sorry, I didn't mean to answer your question, but wanted to comment on the original code because it inspired me to get to a branchless version.
The beauty of a branchless atan2 is that it can easily be performed using SIMD instructions.

very nice, indeed.