xref: /netbsd/lib/libm/man/hypot.3 (revision c4a72b64)
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32.\"     from: @(#)hypot.3	6.7 (Berkeley) 5/6/91
33.\"	$NetBSD: hypot.3,v 1.12 2002/10/01 19:21:30 wiz Exp $
34.\"
35.Dd May 6, 1991
36.Dt HYPOT 3
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm hypot ,
40.Nm hypotf ,
41.Nm cabs ,
42.Nm cabsf
43.Nd euclidean distance and complex absolute value functions
44.Sh LIBRARY
45.Lb libm
46.Sh SYNOPSIS
47.Fd #include \*[Lt]math.h\*[Gt]
48.Ft double
49.Fn hypot "double x" "double y"
50.Ft float
51.Fn hypotf "float x" "float y"
52.Ft double
53.Fn cabs "struct complex { double x; double y; } z"
54.Ft float
55.Fn cabsf "struct complex { float x; float y; } z"
56.Sh DESCRIPTION
57The
58.Fn hypot
59and
60.Fn cabs
61functions
62computes the
63sqrt(x*x+y*y)
64in such a way that underflow will not happen, and overflow
65occurs only if the final result deserves it.
66.Pp
67.Fn hypot "\*(If" "v"
68=
69.Fn hypot "v" "\*(If"
70= +\*(If for all
71.Ar v ,
72including \*(Na.
73.Sh ERRORS
74Below 0.97
75.Em ulps .
76Consequently
77.Fn hypot "5.0" "12.0"
78= 13.0
79exactly;
80in general, hypot and cabs return an integer whenever an
81integer might be expected.
82.Pp
83The same cannot be said for the shorter and faster version of hypot
84and cabs that is provided in the comments in cabs.c; its error can
85exceed 1.2
86.Em ulps .
87.Sh NOTES
88As might be expected,
89.Fn hypot "v" "\*(Na"
90and
91.Fn hypot "\*(Na" "v"
92are \*(Na for all
93.Em finite
94.Ar v ;
95with "reserved operand" in place of "\*(Na", the
96same is true on a
97.Tn VAX .
98But programmers on machines other than a
99.Tn VAX
100(if has no \*(If)
101might be surprised at first to discover that
102.Fn hypot "\(+-\*(If" "\*(Na"
103= +\*(If.
104This is intentional; it happens because
105.Fn hypot "\*(If" "v"
106= +\*(If
107for
108.Em all
109.Ar v ,
110finite or infinite.
111Hence
112.Fn hypot "\*(If" "v"
113is independent of
114.Ar v .
115Unlike the reserved operand fault on a
116.Tn VAX ,
117the
118.Tn IEEE
119\*(Na is designed to
120disappear when it turns out to be irrelevant, as it does in
121.Fn hypot "\*(If" "\*(Na" .
122.Sh SEE ALSO
123.Xr math 3 ,
124.Xr sqrt 3
125.Sh HISTORY
126Both a
127.Fn hypot
128function and a
129.Fn cabs
130function
131appeared in
132.At v7 .
133.Sh BUGS
134The
135.Fn cabs
136and
137.Fn cabsf
138functions use structures that are not defined in any header and need to
139be defined by the user.
140As such they cannot be prototyped properly.
141