If you read the top of the incredibly-hard-to-find native sqrt method for Java, which is located at jdk1.6\src\jdk\src\share\native\java\lang\fdlibm\src\e_sqrt.c you will find this:
/* __ieee754_sqrt(x)
* Return correctly rounded sqrt.
* ------------------------------------------
* | Use the hardware sqrt if you have one |
* ------------------------------------------
.... etc algorithm continues
How can I tell if the JVM, for example, recent Oracle 7/8 jdks, is using a hardware sqrt or the software sqrt in fdlibm?