Editing Strength reduction (section)

{{Short description|Compiler optimization}}

In [[compiler construction]], '''strength reduction''' is a [[compiler optimization]] where expensive operations are replaced with equivalent but less expensive operations.<ref name="MuchnickAssociates1997">{{cite book|author1=Steven Muchnick|author2=Muchnick and Associates|title=Advanced Compiler Design Implementation|url=https://archive.org/details/advancedcompiler00much|url-access=registration|quote=Strength reduction.|date=15 August 1997|publisher=Morgan Kaufmann|isbn=978-1-55860-320-2}}</ref> The classic example of strength reduction converts ''strong'' multiplications inside a loop into ''weaker'' additions &ndash; something that frequently occurs in array addressing.{{Harv|Cooper|Simpson|Vick|1995|p=1}}

Examples of strength reduction include replacing a multiplication within a loop with an addition and replacing [[exponentiation]] within a loop with a multiplication.