xref: /netbsd-src/lib/libm/man/hypot.3 (revision e4dcc564b829e1dab04b3c68ee94a8054dbdf51d)
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28.\"     from: @(#)hypot.3	6.7 (Berkeley) 5/6/91
29.\"	$NetBSD: hypot.3,v 1.19 2017/09/28 05:51:26 wiz Exp $
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31.Dd September 26, 2017
32.Dt HYPOT 3
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm hypot ,
36.Nm hypotf ,
37.Nm hypotl
38.Nd Euclidean distance and complex absolute value functions
39.Sh LIBRARY
40.Lb libm
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.In math.h
43.Ft double
44.Fn hypot "double x" "double y"
45.Ft float
46.Fn hypotf "float x" "float y"
47.Ft long double
48.Fn hypotl "long double x" "long double y"
49.In tgmath.h
50.Ft real-floating
51.Fn hypot "real-floating" "real-floating"
52.Sh DESCRIPTION
53The
54.Fn hypot
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.
60.Pp
61.Fn hypot "\*(If" "v"
62=
63.Fn hypot "v" "\*(If"
64= +\*(If for all
65.Ar v ,
66including \*(Na.
67.Sh ERRORS
68Below 0.97
69.Em ulps .
70Consequently
71.Fn hypot "5.0" "12.0"
72= 13.0
73exactly;
74in general, hypot returns an integer whenever an
75integer might be expected.
76.Pp
77The same cannot be said for the shorter and faster version of hypot
78that is provided in the comments in cabs.c; its error can
79exceed 1.2
80.Em ulps .
81.Sh NOTES
82As might be expected,
83.Fn hypot "v" "\*(Na"
84and
85.Fn hypot "\*(Na" "v"
86are \*(Na for all
87.Em finite
88.Ar v ;
89with "reserved operand" in place of "\*(Na", the
90same is true on a VAX.
91But programmers on machines other than a VAX
92(it has no \*(If)
93might be surprised at first to discover that
94.Fn hypot "\(+-\*(If" "\*(Na"
95= +\*(If.
96This is intentional; it happens because
97.Fn hypot "\*(If" "v"
98= +\*(If
99for
100.Em all
101.Ar v ,
102finite or infinite.
103Hence
104.Fn hypot "\*(If" "v"
105is independent of
106.Ar v .
107Unlike the reserved operand fault on a VAX, the IEEE
108\*(Na is designed to
109disappear when it turns out to be irrelevant, as it does in
110.Fn hypot "\*(If" "\*(Na" .
111.Sh SEE ALSO
112.Xr math 3 ,
113.Xr sqrt 3
114.Sh HISTORY
115The
116.Fn hypot
117appeared in
118.At v7 .
119