xref: /netbsd-src/lib/libm/man/atan2.3 (revision 2a399c6883d870daece976daec6ffa7bb7f934ce)
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32.\"     from: @(#)atan2.3	5.1 (Berkeley) 5/2/91
33.\"	$NetBSD: atan2.3,v 1.7 1997/11/01 06:42:53 mycroft Exp $
34.\"
35.Dd May 2, 1991
36.Dt ATAN2 3
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm atan2
40.Nd arc tangent function of two variables
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Fd #include <math.h>
43.Ft double
44.Fn atan2 "double y" "double x"
45.Ft float
46.Fn atan2f "float y" "float x"
47.Sh DESCRIPTION
48The
49.Fn atan2
50and
51.Fn atan2f
52functions compute the principal value of the arc tangent of
53.Ar y/ Ns Ar x ,
54using the signs of both arguments to determine the quadrant of
55the return value.
56.Sh RETURN VALUES
57The
58.Xr atan2
59function, if successful,
60returns the arc tangent of
61.Ar y/ Ns Ar x
62in the range
63.Bk -words
64.Bq \&- Ns \*(Pi , \&+ Ns \*(Pi
65.Ek
66radians.
67If both
68.Ar x
69and
70.Ar y
71are zero, the global variable
72.Va errno
73is set to
74.Er EDOM .
75On the
76.Tn VAX :
77.Bl -column atan_(y,x)_:=____  sign(y)_(Pi_atan2(Xy_xX))___
78.It Fn atan2 y x No := Ta
79.Fn atan y/x Ta
80if
81.Ar x
82> 0,
83.It Ta sign( Ns Ar y Ns )*(\*(Pi -
84.Fn atan "\\*(Bay/x\\*(Ba" ) Ta
85if
86.Ar x
87< 0,
88.It Ta
89.No 0 Ta
90if x = y = 0, or
91.It Ta
92.Pf sign( Ar y Ns )*\\*(Pi/2 Ta
93if
94.Ar x
95= 0 \*(!=
96.Ar y .
97.El
98.Sh NOTES
99The function
100.Fn atan2
101defines "if x > 0,"
102.Fn atan2 0 0
103= 0 on a
104.Tn VAX
105despite that previously
106.Fn atan2 0 0
107may have generated an error message.
108The reasons for assigning a value to
109.Fn atan2 0 0
110are these:
111.Bl -enum -offset indent
112.It
113Programs that test arguments to avoid computing
114.Fn atan2 0 0
115must be indifferent to its value.
116Programs that require it to be invalid are vulnerable
117to diverse reactions to that invalidity on diverse computer systems.
118.It
119The
120.Fn atan2
121function is used mostly to convert from rectangular (x,y)
122to polar
123.if n\
124(r,theta)
125.if t\
126(r,\(*h)
127coordinates that must satisfy x =
128.if n\
129r\(**cos theta
130.if t\
131r\(**cos\(*h
132and y =
133.if n\
134r\(**sin theta.
135.if t\
136r\(**sin\(*h.
137These equations are satisfied when (x=0,y=0)
138is mapped to
139.if n \
140(r=0,theta=0)
141.if t \
142(r=0,\(*h=0)
143on a VAX.  In general, conversions to polar coordinates
144should be computed thus:
145.Bd -unfilled -offset indent
146.if n \{\
147r	:= hypot(x,y);  ... := sqrt(x\(**x+y\(**y)
148theta	:= atan2(y,x).
149.\}
150.if t \{\
151r	:= hypot(x,y);  ... := \(sr(x\u\s82\s10\d+y\u\s82\s10\d)
152\(*h	:= atan2(y,x).
153.\}
154.Ed
155.It
156The foregoing formulas need not be altered to cope in a
157reasonable way with signed zeros and infinities
158on a machine that conforms to
159.Tn IEEE 754 ;
160the versions of
161.Xr hypot 3
162and
163.Fn atan2
164provided for
165such a machine are designed to handle all cases.
166That is why
167.Fn atan2 \(+-0 \-0
168= \(+-\*(Pi
169for instance.
170In general the formulas above are equivalent to these:
171.Bd -unfilled -offset indent
172.if n \
173r := sqrt(x\(**x+y\(**y); if r = 0 then x := copysign(1,x);
174.if t \
175r := \(sr(x\(**x+y\(**y);\0\0if r = 0 then x := copysign(1,x);
176.Ed
177.El
178.Sh SEE ALSO
179.Xr acos 3 ,
180.Xr asin 3 ,
181.Xr atan 3 ,
182.Xr cos 3 ,
183.Xr cosh 3 ,
184.Xr sin 3 ,
185.Xr sinh 3 ,
186.Xr tan 3 ,
187.Xr tanh 3 ,
188.Xr math 3
189.Sh STANDARDS
190The
191.Fn atan2
192function conforms to
193.St -ansiC .
194