atan2(3) - NetBSD Manual Pages

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ATAN2(3)                NetBSD Library Functions Manual               ATAN2(3)


NAME
atan2, atan2f, atan2l -- arc tangent function of two variables
LIBRARY
Math Library (libm, -lm)
SYNOPSIS
#include <math.h> double atan2(double y, double x); float atan2f(float y, float x); long double atan2l(long double y, long double x);
DESCRIPTION
The atan2(), atan2f(), and atan2l() functions compute the principal value of the arc tangent of y/x, using the signs of both arguments to determine the quadrant of the return value.
RETURN VALUES
The atan2() function, if successful, returns the arc tangent of y/x in the range [-pi, +pi] radians. If both x and y are zero, the global vari- able errno is set to EDOM. On the VAX: atan2(y, x) := atan(y/x) if x > 0, sign(y)*(pi - atan(|y/x|)) if x < 0, 0 if x = y = 0, or sign(y)*pi/2 if x = 0 y.
NOTES
The function atan2() defines "if x > 0," atan2(0, 0) = 0 on a VAX despite that previously atan2(0, 0) may have generated an error message. The reasons for assigning a value to atan2(0, 0) are these: 1. Programs that test arguments to avoid computing atan2(0, 0) must be indifferent to its value. Programs that require it to be invalid are vulnerable to diverse reactions to that inva- lidity on diverse computer systems. 2. The atan2() function is used mostly to convert from rectangu- lar (x,y) to polar (r,theta) coordinates that must satisfy x = r*cos theta and y = r*sin theta. These equations are satis- fied when (x=0,y=0) is mapped to (r=0,theta=0) on a VAX. In general, conversions to polar coordinates should be computed thus: r := hypot(x,y); ... := sqrt(x*x+y*y) theta := atan2(y,x). 3. The foregoing formulas need not be altered to cope in a rea- sonable way with signed zeros and infinities on a machine that conforms to IEEE 754; the versions of hypot(3) and atan2() provided for such a machine are designed to handle all cases. That is why atan2(±0, -0) = ±pi for instance. In general the formulas above are equivalent to these: r := sqrt(x*x+y*y); if r = 0 then x := copysign(1,x);
SEE ALSO
acos(3), asin(3), atan(3), cos(3), cosh(3), math(3), sin(3), sinh(3), tan(3), tanh(3)
STANDARDS
The atan2() function conforms to ISO/IEC 9899:1999 (``ISO C99''). NetBSD 9.0 January 29, 2013 NetBSD 9.0
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