xref: /netbsd-src/lib/libm/man/hypot.3 (revision 2a399c6883d870daece976daec6ffa7bb7f934ce)
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32.\"     from: @(#)hypot.3	6.7 (Berkeley) 5/6/91
33.\"	$NetBSD: hypot.3,v 1.6 1997/10/09 11:27:52 lukem Exp $
34.\"
35.Dd May 6, 1991
36.Dt HYPOT 3
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm hypot ,
40.Nm cabs
41.Nd euclidean distance and complex absolute value functions
42.Sh SYNOPSIS
43.Fd #include <math.h>
44.Ft double
45.Fn hypot "double x" "double y"
46.Ft float
47.Fn hypotf "float x" "float y"
48.Fd struct {double x, y;} z;
49.Ft double
50.Fn cabs z
51.Sh DESCRIPTION
52The
53.Fn hypot
54and
55.Fn cabs
56functions
57computes the
58sqrt(x*x+y*y)
59in such a way that underflow will not happen, and overflow
60occurs only if the final result deserves it.
61.Pp
62.Fn hypot "\*(If" "v"
63=
64.Fn hypot "v" "\*(If"
65= +\*(If for all
66.Ar v ,
67including \*(Na.
68.Sh ERROR (due to Roundoff, etc.)
69Below 0.97
70.Em ulps .
71Consequently
72.Fn hypot "5.0" "12.0"
73= 13.0
74exactly;
75in general, hypot and cabs return an integer whenever an
76integer might be expected.
77.Pp
78The same cannot be said for the shorter and faster version of hypot
79and cabs that is provided in the comments in cabs.c; its error can
80exceed 1.2
81.Em ulps .
82.Sh NOTES
83As might be expected,
84.Fn hypot "v" "\*(Na"
85and
86.Fn hypot "\*(Na" "v"
87are \*(Na for all
88.Em finite
89.Ar v ;
90with "reserved operand" in place of "\*(Na", the
91same is true on a
92.Tn VAX .
93But programmers on machines other than a
94.Tn VAX
95(if has no \*(If)
96might be surprised at first to discover that
97.Fn hypot "\(+-\*(If" "\*(Na"
98= +\*(If.
99This is intentional; it happens because
100.Fn hypot "\*(If" "v"
101= +\*(If
102for
103.Em all
104.Ar v ,
105finite or infinite.
106Hence
107.Fn hypot "\*(If" "v"
108is independent of
109.Ar v .
110Unlike the reserved operand fault on a
111.Tn VAX ,
112the
113.Tn IEEE
114\*(Na is designed to
115disappear when it turns out to be irrelevant, as it does in
116.Fn hypot "\*(If" "\*(Na" .
117.Sh SEE ALSO
118.Xr math 3 ,
119.Xr sqrt 3
120.Sh HISTORY
121Both a
122.Fn hypot
123function and a
124.Fn cabs
125function
126appeared in
127.At v7 .
128