module Math

Module Math provides methods for basic trigonometric, logarithmic, and transcendental functions, and for extracting roots.

You can write its constants and method calls thus:

Math::PI      # => 3.141592653589793
Math::E       # => 2.718281828459045
Math.sin(0.0) # => 0.0
Math.cos(0.0) # => 1.0

If you include module Math, you can write simpler forms:

include Math
PI       # => 3.141592653589793
E        # => 2.718281828459045
sin(0.0) # => 0.0
cos(0.0) # => 1.0

For simplicity, the examples here assume:

include Math
INFINITY = Float::INFINITY

The domains and ranges for the methods are denoted by open or closed intervals, using, respectively, parentheses or square brackets:

Many values returned by Math methods are numerical approximations. This is because many such values are, in mathematics, of infinite precision, while in numerical computation the precision is finite.

Thus, in mathematics, cos(π/2) is exactly zero, but in our computation cos(PI/2) is a number very close to zero:

cos(PI/2) # => 6.123031769111886e-17

For very large and very small returned values, we have added formatted numbers for clarity:

tan(PI/2)  # => 1.633123935319537e+16   # 16331239353195370.0
tan(PI)    # => -1.2246467991473532e-16 # -0.0000000000000001

See class Float for the constants that affect Ruby’s floating-point arithmetic.

What’s Here

Trigonometric Functions

Inverse Trigonometric Functions

Hyperbolic Trigonometric Functions

Inverse Hyperbolic Trigonometric Functions

Exponentiation and Logarithmic Functions

Fraction and Exponent Functions

Root Functions

Error Functions

Gamma Functions

Hypotenuse Function