Basic math operators—such as plus, minus, and modulus—can
get you only so far. It is only a matter of time before you find that you
need more robust math routines. C# has access to a set of math routines
within the base classes. These are available from within the
System.Math
namespace. Table 1 presents a number of the math
methods available.
The Math
class is sealed. A sealed class cannot be used
for inheritance. Additionally, all the classes and data members are
static, so you can’t create an object of type Math
. Instead,
you use the members and methods with the class name.
Table 1: Math Routines in the Math
Class
Method | Returns | |
Abs |
Returns the absolute
value of a number. |
Ceiling |
Returns a value that
is the smallest whole number greater than or equal to a given number. |
Exp |
Returns E raised to a
given power. This is the inverse of Log. |
Floor |
Returns a value that
is the largest whole number that is less than or equal to the given number. |
IEEERemainder |
Returns the
result of a division of two specified numbers. (This division operation conforms to the remainder operation stated within Section 5.1 of ANSI/IEEE Std. 754-1985; IEEE Standard for Binary Floating-Point Arithmetic; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc; 1985.) |
Log |
Returns a value that is
the logarithmic value of the given number. |
Log10 |
Returns a value that
is the base 10 logarithm of a given value. |
Max |
Returns the larger of
two values. |
Min |
Returns the smaller
of two values. |
Pow |
Returns the value of
a given value raised to a given power. |
Round |
Returns a rounded
value for a number. You can specify the precision of the rounded number. The number .5 would be rounded down. |
Sign |
Returns a value
indicating the sign of a value. 1 is returned for a negative number, 0 is returned for zero, and 1 is returned for a positive number. |
Sqrt |
Returns the square
root for a given value. |
Acos |
Returns the value of
an angle whose cosine is equal to a given number. |
Asin |
Returns the value of
an angle whose sine is equal to a given number. |
Atan |
Returns the value of
an angle whose tangent is equal to a given number. |
Atan2 |
Returns the value of
an angle whose tangent is equal to the quotient of two given numbers. |
Cos |
Returns a value that
is the cosine of a given angle. |
Cosh |
Returns a value that
is the hyperbolic cosine for a given angle. |
Sin |
Returns the sine for
a given angle. |
Sinh |
Returns the
hyperbolic sine for a given angle. |
Tan |
Returns the tangent
of a specified angle. |
Tanh |
Returns the
hyperbolic tangent of a given angle. |
The Math
class also includes two constants:
PI
and E
. PI
returns the value of
[PI] as 3.14159265358979323846
. The E
data
member returns the value of the logarithmic base,
2.7182818284590452354
.
Most of the math methods in Table 1 are easy to understand. Listing 1
presents a couple of the routines in use.
Listing 1: MathApp.cs — Using Some of the Math
Routines
1: // MathApp.cs - Using a Math routine 2: //----------------------------------------------- 3: using System; 4: 5: class MathApp 6: { 7: public static void Main() 8: { 9: int val2; 10: char disp; 11: 12: for (double ctr = 0.0; ctr <= 10; ctr += .2) 13: { 14: val2 = (int) Math.Round( ( 10 * Math.Sin(ctr))) ; 15: for( int ctr2 = -10; ctr2 <= 10; ctr2++ ) 16: { 17: if (ctr2 == val2) 18: disp = 'X'; 19: else 20: disp = ' '; 21: 22: Console.Write("{0}", disp); 23: } 24: Console.WriteLine(" "); 25: } 26: } 27: }
The following is the output:
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
This listing maps out the Sin
method. A for
statement in Lines 12 to 25 loops through double values, incrementing
them by .2
each iteration. The sine of this value is
obtained using the Math.Sin
method in Line 14. The sine is a
value from 1.0
to 1.0
. To make the display
easier, this value is converted to a value from 10
to
10
. This conversion is done by multiplying the returned sine
value by 10 and then rounding the value with the Math.Round
method.
The result of doing the multiplication and rounding is that
val2
is a value from 10
to 10
. A
for
loop in Line 15 displays a single line of characters.
This line of characters is spaces, with the exception of the character in
the position equal to val2
. Line 24 prints another space to
start a new line. The result of this work is a rough display of a sine
curve.
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