xref: /openbsd/lib/libm/man/hypot.3 (revision 404b540a)
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29.\"     from: @(#)hypot.3	6.7 (Berkeley) 5/6/91
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31.Dd $Mdocdate: May 31 2007 $
32.Dt HYPOT 3
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm hypot ,
36.Nm hypotf ,
37.Nm cabs ,
38.Nm cabsf
39.Nd Euclidean distance and complex absolute value functions
40.Sh SYNOPSIS
41.Fd #include <math.h>
42.Ft double
43.Fn hypot "double x" "double y"
44.Ft float
45.Fn hypotf "float x" "float y"
46.Ft double
47.Fn cabs "struct complex { double x; double y; } z"
48.Ft float
49.Fn cabsf "struct complex { float x; float y; } z"
50.Sh DESCRIPTION
51The
52.Fn hypot
53and
54.Fn cabs
55functions
56compute the
57sqrt(x*x+y*y)
58in such a way that underflow will not happen, and overflow
59occurs only if the final result deserves it.
60The
61.Fn hypotf
62and
63.Fn cabsf
64functions are single precision versions of
65.Fn hypot
66and
67.Fn cabs ,
68respectively.
69.Pp
70.Fn hypot "\*(If" "v"
71=
72.Fn hypot "v" "\*(If"
73= +\*(If for all
74.Ar v ,
75including \*(Na.
76.Sh ERRORS (due to Roundoff, etc.)
77Below 0.97
78.Em ulps .
79Consequently
80.Fn hypot "5.0" "12.0"
81= 13.0
82exactly;
83in general, hypot and cabs return an integer whenever an
84integer might be expected.
85.Pp
86The same cannot be said for the shorter and faster version of hypot
87and cabs that is provided in the comments in cabs.c; its error can
88exceed 1.2
89.Em ulps .
90.Sh NOTES
91As might be expected,
92.Fn hypot "v" "\*(Na"
93and
94.Fn hypot "\*(Na" "v"
95are \*(Na for all
96.Em finite
97.Ar v ;
98with "reserved operand" in place of "\*(Na", the
99same is true on a
100.Tn VAX .
101But programmers on machines other than a
102.Tn VAX
103(it has no \*(If)
104might be surprised at first to discover that
105.Fn hypot "\(+-\*(If" "\*(Na"
106= +\*(If.
107This is intentional; it happens because
108.Fn hypot "\*(If" "v"
109= +\*(If
110for
111.Em all
112.Ar v ,
113finite or infinite.
114Hence
115.Fn hypot "\*(If" "v"
116is independent of
117.Ar v .
118Unlike the reserved operand fault on a
119.Tn VAX ,
120the
121.Tn IEEE
122\*(Na is designed to
123disappear when it turns out to be irrelevant, as it does in
124.Fn hypot "\*(If" "\*(Na" .
125.Sh SEE ALSO
126.Xr math 3 ,
127.Xr sqrt 3
128.Sh HISTORY
129Both a
130.Fn hypot
131function and a
132.Fn cabs
133function
134appeared in
135.At v7 .
136.Sh BUGS
137The
138.Fn cabs
139and
140.Fn cabsf
141functions use structures that are not defined in any header and need to
142be defined by the user.
143As such they cannot be prototyped properly.
144