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Math::BigFloat(3)      Perl Programmers Reference Guide	     Math::BigFloat(3)

NAME
       Math::BigFloat - Arbitrary size floating point math package

SYNOPSIS
	 use Math::BigFloat;

	 # Number creation
	 $x = Math::BigFloat->new($str);       # defaults to 0
	 $nan  = Math::BigFloat->bnan();       # create a NotANumber
	 $zero = Math::BigFloat->bzero();      # create a +0
	 $inf = Math::BigFloat->binf();	       # create a +inf
	 $inf = Math::BigFloat->binf('-');     # create a -inf
	 $one = Math::BigFloat->bone();	       # create a +1
	 $one = Math::BigFloat->bone('-');     # create a -1

	 # Testing
	 $x->is_zero();		       # true if arg is +0
	 $x->is_nan();		       # true if arg is NaN
	 $x->is_one();		       # true if arg is +1
	 $x->is_one('-');	       # true if arg is -1
	 $x->is_odd();		       # true if odd, false for even
	 $x->is_even();		       # true if even, false for odd
	 $x->is_pos();		       # true if >= 0
	 $x->is_neg();		       # true if <  0
	 $x->is_inf(sign);	       # true if +inf, or -inf (default is '+')

	 $x->bcmp($y);		       # compare numbers (undef,<0,=0,>0)
	 $x->bacmp($y);		       # compare absolutely (undef,<0,=0,>0)
	 $x->sign();		       # return the sign, either +,- or NaN
	 $x->digit($n);		       # return the nth digit, counting from right
	 $x->digit(-$n);	       # return the nth digit, counting from left

	 # The following all modify their first argument. If you want to preserve
	 # $x, use $z = $x->copy()->bXXX($y); See under L<CAVEATS> for why this is
	 # neccessary when mixing $a = $b assigments with non-overloaded math.

	 # set
	 $x->bzero();		       # set $i to 0
	 $x->bnan();		       # set $i to NaN
	 $x->bone();		       # set $x to +1
	 $x->bone('-');		       # set $x to -1
	 $x->binf();		       # set $x to inf
	 $x->binf('-');		       # set $x to -inf

	 $x->bneg();		       # negation
	 $x->babs();		       # absolute value
	 $x->bnorm();		       # normalize (no-op)
	 $x->bnot();		       # two's complement (bit wise not)
	 $x->binc();		       # increment x by 1
	 $x->bdec();		       # decrement x by 1

	 $x->badd($y);		       # addition (add $y to $x)
	 $x->bsub($y);		       # subtraction (subtract $y from $x)
	 $x->bmul($y);		       # multiplication (multiply $x by $y)
	 $x->bdiv($y);		       # divide, set $x to quotient
				       # return (quo,rem) or quo if scalar

	 $x->bmod($y);		       # modulus ($x % $y)
	 $x->bpow($y);		       # power of arguments ($x ** $y)
	 $x->blsft($y);		       # left shift
	 $x->brsft($y);		       # right shift
				       # return (quo,rem) or quo if scalar

	 $x->blog();		       # logarithm of $x to base e (Euler's number)
	 $x->blog($base);	       # logarithm of $x to base $base (f.i. 2)

	 $x->band($y);		       # bit-wise and
	 $x->bior($y);		       # bit-wise inclusive or
	 $x->bxor($y);		       # bit-wise exclusive or
	 $x->bnot();		       # bit-wise not (two's complement)

	 $x->bsqrt();		       # calculate square-root
	 $x->broot($y);		       # $y'th root of $x (e.g. $y == 3 => cubic root)
	 $x->bfac();		       # factorial of $x (1*2*3*4*..$x)

	 $x->bround($N);	       # accuracy: preserve $N digits
	 $x->bfround($N);	       # precision: round to the $Nth digit

	 $x->bfloor();		       # return integer less or equal than $x
	 $x->bceil();		       # return integer greater or equal than $x

	 # The following do not modify their arguments:

	 bgcd(@values);		       # greatest common divisor
	 blcm(@values);		       # lowest common multiplicator

	 $x->bstr();		       # return string
	 $x->bsstr();		       # return string in scientific notation

	 $x->as_int();		       # return $x as BigInt
	 $x->exponent();	       # return exponent as BigInt
	 $x->mantissa();	       # return mantissa as BigInt
	 $x->parts();		       # return (mantissa,exponent) as BigInt

	 $x->length();		       # number of digits (w/o sign and '.')
	 ($l,$f) = $x->length();       # number of digits, and length of fraction

	 $x->precision();	       # return P of $x (or global, if P of $x undef)
	 $x->precision($n);	       # set P of $x to $n
	 $x->accuracy();	       # return A of $x (or global, if A of $x undef)
	 $x->accuracy($n);	       # set A $x to $n

	 # these get/set the appropriate global value for all BigFloat objects
	 Math::BigFloat->precision();  # Precision
	 Math::BigFloat->accuracy();   # Accuracy
	 Math::BigFloat->round_mode(); # rounding mode

DESCRIPTION
       All operators (inlcuding basic math operations) are overloaded if you
       declare your big floating point numbers as

	 $i = new Math::BigFloat '12_3.456_789_123_456_789E-2';

       Operations with overloaded operators preserve the arguments, which is
       exactly what you expect.

       Canonical notation

       Input to these routines are either BigFloat objects, or strings of the
       following four forms:

       · "/^[+-]\d+$/"

       · "/^[+-]\d+\.\d*$/"

       · "/^[+-]\d+E[+-]?\d+$/"

       · "/^[+-]\d*\.\d+E[+-]?\d+$/"

       all with optional leading and trailing zeros and/or spaces. Additon‐
       ally, numbers are allowed to have an underscore between any two digits.

       Empty strings as well as other illegal numbers results in 'NaN'.

       bnorm() on a BigFloat object is now effectively a no-op, since the num‐
       bers are always stored in normalized form. On a string, it creates a
       BigFloat object.

       Output

       Output values are BigFloat objects (normalized), except for bstr() and
       bsstr().

       The string output will always have leading and trailing zeros stripped
       and drop a plus sign. "bstr()" will give you always the form with a
       decimal point, while "bsstr()" (s for scientific) gives you the scien‐
       tific notation.

	       Input		       bstr()	       bsstr()
	       '-0'		       '0'	       '0E1'
	       '  -123 123 123'	       '-123123123'    '-123123123E0'
	       '00.0123'	       '0.0123'	       '123E-4'
	       '123.45E-2'	       '1.2345'	       '12345E-4'
	       '10E+3'		       '10000'	       '1E4'

       Some routines ("is_odd()", "is_even()", "is_zero()", "is_one()",
       "is_nan()") return true or false, while others ("bcmp()", "bacmp()")
       return either undef, <0, 0 or >0 and are suited for sort.

       Actual math is done by using the class defined with "with =" Class;>
       (which defaults to BigInts) to represent the mantissa and exponent.

       The sign "/^[+-]$/" is stored separately. The string 'NaN' is used to
       represent the result when input arguments are not numbers, as well as
       the result of dividing by zero.

       "mantissa()", "exponent()" and "parts()"

       "mantissa()" and "exponent()" return the said parts of the BigFloat as
       BigInts such that:

	       $m = $x->mantissa();
	       $e = $x->exponent();
	       $y = $m * ( 10 ** $e );
	       print "ok\n" if $x == $y;

       "($m,$e) = $x->parts();" is just a shortcut giving you both of them.

       A zero is represented and returned as 0E1, not 0E0 (after Knuth).

       Currently the mantissa is reduced as much as possible, favouring higher
       exponents over lower ones (e.g. returning 1e7 instead of 10e6 or
       10000000e0).  This might change in the future, so do not depend on it.

       Accuracy vs. Precision

       See also: Rounding.

       Math::BigFloat supports both precision (rounding to a certain place
       before or after the dot) and accuracy (rounding to a certain number of
       digits). For a full documentation, examples and tips on these topics
       please see the large section about rounding in Math::BigInt.

       Since things like sqrt(2) or "1 / 3" must presented with a limited
       accuracy lest a operation consumes all resources, each operation pro‐
       duces no more than the requested number of digits.

       If there is no gloabl precision or accuracy set, and the operation in
       question was not called with a requested precision or accuracy, and the
       input $x has no accuracy or precision set, then a fallback parameter
       will be used. For historical reasons, it is called "div_scale" and can
       be accessed via:

	       $d = Math::BigFloat->div_scale();	       # query
	       Math::BigFloat->div_scale($n);		       # set to $n digits

       The default value for "div_scale" is 40.

       In case the result of one operation has more digits than specified, it
       is rounded. The rounding mode taken is either the default mode, or the
       one supplied to the operation after the scale:

	       $x = Math::BigFloat->new(2);
	       Math::BigFloat->accuracy(5);	       # 5 digits max
	       $y = $x->copy()->bdiv(3);	       # will give 0.66667
	       $y = $x->copy()->bdiv(3,6);	       # will give 0.666667
	       $y = $x->copy()->bdiv(3,6,undef,'odd'); # will give 0.666667
	       Math::BigFloat->round_mode('zero');
	       $y = $x->copy()->bdiv(3,6);	       # will also give 0.666667

       Note that "Math::BigFloat->accuracy()" and "Math::BigFloat->preci‐
       sion()" set the global variables, and thus any newly created number
       will be subject to the global rounding immidiately. This means that in
       the examples above, the 3 as argument to "bdiv()" will also get an
       accuracy of 5.

       It is less confusing to either calculate the result fully, and after‐
       wards round it explicitely, or use the additional parameters to the
       math functions like so:

	       use Math::BigFloat;
	       $x = Math::BigFloat->new(2);
	       $y = $x->copy()->bdiv(3);
	       print $y->bround(5),"\n";	       # will give 0.66667

	       or

	       use Math::BigFloat;
	       $x = Math::BigFloat->new(2);
	       $y = $x->copy()->bdiv(3,5);	       # will give 0.66667
	       print "$y\n";

       Rounding

       ffround ( +$scale )
	 Rounds to the $scale'th place left from the '.', counting from the
	 dot.  The first digit is numbered 1.

       ffround ( -$scale )
	 Rounds to the $scale'th place right from the '.', counting from the
	 dot.

       ffround ( 0 )
	 Rounds to an integer.

       fround  ( +$scale )
	 Preserves accuracy to $scale digits from the left (aka significant
	 digits) and pads the rest with zeros. If the number is between 1 and
	 -1, the significant digits count from the first non-zero after the
	 '.'

       fround  ( -$scale ) and fround ( 0 )
	 These are effectively no-ops.

       All rounding functions take as a second parameter a rounding mode from
       one of the following: 'even', 'odd', '+inf', '-inf', 'zero' or 'trunc'.

       The default rounding mode is 'even'. By using
       "Math::BigFloat->round_mode($round_mode);" you can get and set the
       default mode for subsequent rounding. The usage of
       "$Math::BigFloat::$round_mode" is no longer supported.  The second
       parameter to the round functions then overrides the default temporar‐
       ily.

       The "as_number()" function returns a BigInt from a Math::BigFloat. It
       uses 'trunc' as rounding mode to make it equivalent to:

	       $x = 2.5;
	       $y = int($x) + 2;

       You can override this by passing the desired rounding mode as parameter
       to "as_number()":

	       $x = Math::BigFloat->new(2.5);
	       $y = $x->as_number('odd');      # $y = 3

METHODS
       accuracy

	       $x->accuracy(5);		       # local for $x
	       CLASS->accuracy(5);	       # global for all members of CLASS
					       # Note: This also applies to new()!

	       $A = $x->accuracy();	       # read out accuracy that affects $x
	       $A = CLASS->accuracy();	       # read out global accuracy

       Set or get the global or local accuracy, aka how many significant dig‐
       its the results have. If you set a global accuracy, then this also
       applies to new()!

       Warning! The accuracy sticks, e.g. once you created a number under the
       influence of "CLASS->accuracy($A)", all results from math operations
       with that number will also be rounded.

       In most cases, you should probably round the results explicitely using
       one of round(), bround() or bfround() or by passing the desired accu‐
       racy to the math operation as additional parameter:

	       my $x = Math::BigInt->new(30000);
	       my $y = Math::BigInt->new(7);
	       print scalar $x->copy()->bdiv($y, 2);	       # print 4300
	       print scalar $x->copy()->bdiv($y)->bround(2);   # print 4300

       precision()

	       $x->precision(-2);      # local for $x, round at the second digit right of the dot
	       $x->precision(2);       # ditto, round at the second digit left of the dot

	       CLASS->precision(5);    # Global for all members of CLASS
				       # This also applies to new()!
	       CLASS->precision(-5);   # ditto

	       $P = CLASS->precision();	       # read out global precision
	       $P = $x->precision();	       # read out precision that affects $x

       Note: You probably want to use accuracy() instead. With accuracy you
       set the number of digits each result should have, with precision you
       set the place where to round!

Autocreating constants
       After "use Math::BigFloat ':constant'" all the floating point constants
       in the given scope are converted to "Math::BigFloat". This conversion
       happens at compile time.

       In particular

	 perl -MMath::BigFloat=:constant -e 'print 2E-100,"\n"'

       prints the value of "2E-100". Note that without conversion of constants
       the expression 2E-100 will be calculated as normal floating point num‐
       ber.

       Please note that ':constant' does not affect integer constants, nor
       binary nor hexadecimal constants. Use bignum or Math::BigInt to get
       this to work.

       Math library

       Math with the numbers is done (by default) by a module called
       Math::BigInt::Calc. This is equivalent to saying:

	       use Math::BigFloat lib => 'Calc';

       You can change this by using:

	       use Math::BigFloat lib => 'BitVect';

       The following would first try to find Math::BigInt::Foo, then
       Math::BigInt::Bar, and when this also fails, revert to Math::Big‐
       Int::Calc:

	       use Math::BigFloat lib => 'Foo,Math::BigInt::Bar';

       Calc.pm uses as internal format an array of elements of some decimal
       base (usually 1e7, but this might be differen for some systems) with
       the least significant digit first, while BitVect.pm uses a bit vector
       of base 2, most significant bit first. Other modules might use even
       different means of representing the numbers. See the respective module
       documentation for further details.

       Please note that Math::BigFloat does not use the denoted library
       itself, but it merely passes the lib argument to Math::BigInt. So,
       instead of the need to do:

	       use Math::BigInt lib => 'GMP';
	       use Math::BigFloat;

       you can roll it all into one line:

	       use Math::BigFloat lib => 'GMP';

       It is also possible to just require Math::BigFloat:

	       require Math::BigFloat;

       This will load the neccessary things (like BigInt) when they are
       needed, and automatically.

       Use the lib, Luke! And see "Using Math::BigInt::Lite" for more details
       than you ever wanted to know about loading a different library.

       Using Math::BigInt::Lite

       It is possible to use Math::BigInt::Lite with Math::BigFloat:

	       # 1
	       use Math::BigFloat with => 'Math::BigInt::Lite';

       There is no need to "use Math::BigInt" or "use Math::BigInt::Lite", but
       you can combine these if you want. For instance, you may want to use
       Math::BigInt objects in your main script, too.

	       # 2
	       use Math::BigInt;
	       use Math::BigFloat with => 'Math::BigInt::Lite';

       Of course, you can combine this with the "lib" parameter.

	       # 3
	       use Math::BigFloat with => 'Math::BigInt::Lite', lib => 'GMP,Pari';

       There is no need for a "use Math::BigInt;" statement, even if you want
       to use Math::BigInt's, since Math::BigFloat will needs Math::BigInt and
       thus always loads it. But if you add it, add it before:

	       # 4
	       use Math::BigInt;
	       use Math::BigFloat with => 'Math::BigInt::Lite', lib => 'GMP,Pari';

       Notice that the module with the last "lib" will "win" and thus it's lib
       will be used if the lib is available:

	       # 5
	       use Math::BigInt lib => 'Bar,Baz';
	       use Math::BigFloat with => 'Math::BigInt::Lite', lib => 'Foo';

       That would try to load Foo, Bar, Baz and Calc (in that order). Or in
       other words, Math::BigFloat will try to retain previously loaded libs
       when you don't specify it onem but if you specify one, it will try to
       load them.

       Actually, the lib loading order would be "Bar,Baz,Calc", and then
       "Foo,Bar,Baz,Calc", but independend of which lib exists, the result is
       the same as trying the latter load alone, except for the fact that one
       of Bar or Baz might be loaded needlessly in an intermidiate step (and
       thus hang around and waste memory). If neither Bar nor Baz exist (or
       don't work/compile), they will still be tried to be loaded, but this is
       not as time/memory consuming as actually loading one of them. Still,
       this type of usage is not recommended due to these issues.

       The old way (loading the lib only in BigInt) still works though:

	       # 6
	       use Math::BigInt lib => 'Bar,Baz';
	       use Math::BigFloat;

       You can even load Math::BigInt afterwards:

	       # 7
	       use Math::BigFloat;
	       use Math::BigInt lib => 'Bar,Baz';

       But this has the same problems like #5, it will first load Calc
       (Math::BigFloat needs Math::BigInt and thus loads it) and then later
       Bar or Baz, depending on which of them works and is usable/loadable.
       Since this loads Calc unnecc., it is not recommended.

       Since it also possible to just require Math::BigFloat, this poses the
       question about what libary this will use:

	       require Math::BigFloat;
	       my $x = Math::BigFloat->new(123); $x += 123;

       It will use Calc. Please note that the call to import() is still done,
       but only when you use for the first time some Math::BigFloat math (it
       is triggered via any constructor, so the first time you create a
       Math::BigFloat, the load will happen in the background). This means:

	       require Math::BigFloat;
	       Math::BigFloat->import ( lib => 'Foo,Bar' );

       would be the same as:

	       use Math::BigFloat lib => 'Foo, Bar';

       But don't try to be clever to insert some operations in between:

	       require Math::BigFloat;
	       my $x = Math::BigFloat->bone() + 4;	       # load BigInt and Calc
	       Math::BigFloat->import( lib => 'Pari' );	       # load Pari, too
	       $x = Math::BigFloat->bone()+4;		       # now use Pari

       While this works, it loads Calc needlessly. But maybe you just wanted
       that?

       Examples #3 is highly recommended for daily usage.

BUGS
       Please see the file BUGS in the CPAN distribution Math::BigInt for
       known bugs.

CAVEATS
       stringify, bstr()
	Both stringify and bstr() now drop the leading '+'. The old code would
	return '+1.23', the new returns '1.23'. See the documentation in
	Math::BigInt for reasoning and details.

       bdiv
	The following will probably not do what you expect:

		print $c->bdiv(123.456),"\n";

	It prints both quotient and reminder since print works in list con‐
	text. Also, bdiv() will modify $c, so be carefull. You probably want
	to use

		print $c / 123.456,"\n";
		print scalar $c->bdiv(123.456),"\n";  # or if you want to modify $c

	instead.

       Modifying and =
	Beware of:

		$x = Math::BigFloat->new(5);
		$y = $x;

	It will not do what you think, e.g. making a copy of $x. Instead it
	just makes a second reference to the same object and stores it in $y.
	Thus anything that modifies $x will modify $y (except overloaded math
	operators), and vice versa. See Math::BigInt for details and how to
	avoid that.

       bpow
	"bpow()" now modifies the first argument, unlike the old code which
	left it alone and only returned the result. This is to be consistent
	with "badd()" etc. The first will modify $x, the second one won't:

		print bpow($x,$i),"\n";		# modify $x
		print $x->bpow($i),"\n";	# ditto
		print $x ** $i,"\n";		# leave $x alone

       precision() vs. accuracy()
	A common pitfall is to use precision() when you want to round a result
	to a certain number of digits:

		use Math::BigFloat;

		Math::BigFloat->precision(4);		# does not do what you think it does
		my $x = Math::BigFloat->new(12345);	# rounds $x to "12000"!
		print "$x\n";				# print "12000"
		my $y = Math::BigFloat->new(3);		# rounds $y to "0"!
		print "$y\n";				# print "0"
		$z = $x / $y;				# 12000 / 0 => NaN!
		print "$z\n";
		print $z->precision(),"\n";		# 4

	Replacing precision with accuracy is probably not what you want,
	either:

		use Math::BigFloat;

		Math::BigFloat->accuracy(4);		# enables global rounding:
		my $x = Math::BigFloat->new(123456);	# rounded immidiately to "12350"
		print "$x\n";				# print "123500"
		my $y = Math::BigFloat->new(3);		# rounded to "3
		print "$y\n";				# print "3"
		print $z = $x->copy()->bdiv($y),"\n";	# 41170
		print $z->accuracy(),"\n";		# 4

	What you want to use instead is:

		use Math::BigFloat;

		my $x = Math::BigFloat->new(123456);	# no rounding
		print "$x\n";				# print "123456"
		my $y = Math::BigFloat->new(3);		# no rounding
		print "$y\n";				# print "3"
		print $z = $x->copy()->bdiv($y,4),"\n"; # 41150
		print $z->accuracy(),"\n";		# undef

	In addition to computing what you expected, the last example also does
	not "taint" the result with an accuracy or precision setting, which
	would influence any further operation.

SEE ALSO
       Math::BigInt, Math::BigRat and Math::Big as well as Math::Big‐
       Int::BitVect, Math::BigInt::Pari and  Math::BigInt::GMP.

       The pragmas bignum, bigint and bigrat might also be of interest because
       they solve the autoupgrading/downgrading issue, at least partly.

       The package at <http://search.cpan.org/search?mode=mod‐
       ule&query=Math%3A%3ABigInt> contains more documentation including a
       full version history, testcases, empty subclass files and benchmarks.

LICENSE
       This program is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it
       under the same terms as Perl itself.

AUTHORS
       Mark Biggar, overloaded interface by Ilya Zakharevich.  Completely
       rewritten by Tels <http://bloodgate.com> in 2001 - 2004, and still at
       it in 2005.

perl v5.8.8			  2004-05-07		     Math::BigFloat(3)
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