guess_factor

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Small C++ tool (with Python bindings) that guesses an unknown multiplicative factor between two numbers, by searching combinations of configurable bases (e.g. 2, π, 3, physics constants) raised to small integer exponents.

Source Documentation

cmake . && make

Given a target number (and optionally a second number to divide it by first), guess_factor searches products of configurable bases raised to small integer exponents and reports the closest-matching combinations — for example, recognizing that two numbers differ by 2 * π^2 or 3^-1 * 2^4. Bases and exponents are configurable at runtime (config.txt) or compiled in for speed.

Originally a small standalone utility, it has been genuinely useful for validating and cross-checking high-energy-physics codes against each other: when two independent calculations of the same cross section or distribution disagree by a constant factor rather than matching exactly, guess_factor can often identify that factor automatically (a missing 2π, a spin/color-averaging factor, a unit-conversion constant), turning a “why don’t these two codes agree” debugging session into a quick, mechanical check instead of a manual guess-and-check.