However, a set of general rules that are more-or-less consistent across machines include:

• Addition and Subtraction are generally faster than Multiplication.
• Multiplication is generally faster than Division.
• Using tables to evaluate discrete functions is faster than computing them
• Integer caluculations are faster than floating-point calculations.
• Avoid unnecessary computation by testing for various special cases.
• The intrinsic tests available to most machines are greater than,
  less than, greater than or equal, and less than or equal to zero (not an arbitrary value).