Yeah, the question he asks is "Why can't y^w be rounded within half an ulp like SQRT?" not "Why can't y^w be rounded within slightly more than half an ulp like

Yeah, the question he asks is "Why can't y^w be rounded within half an ulp like SQRT?" not "Why can't y^w be rounded within slightly more than half an ulp like SQRT?" It's really just that tiny epsilon difference that turns "just a few more terms" into "nobody knows how much it'd cost". The reason SQRT can actually be rounded within half an espilon in a predictable amount of time is that SQRT(x) >= y + 0.5 precisely when x >= (y + 0.5)^2 = y^2 + y + 0.25, which means you can determine whether to round up or not with a simple comparison.