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$ZSIN (ObjectScript)

Returns the trigonometric sine of the specified angle value.

Synopsis

$ZSIN(n)

Argument

Argument Description
n Angle in radians ranging from Pi to 2 Pi (inclusive). Other supplied numeric values are converted to a value within this range.

Description

$ZSIN returns the trigonometric sine of n. The result is a signed decimal number ranging from 1 to -1 (see note). $ZSIN(0) returns 0. $ZSIN($ZPI/2) returns 1.

Note:

$ZSIN (like all trigonometric functions) calculates its values based on pi rounded to the number of available decimal digits. Therefore, the value returned by $ZSIN($ZPI) is .000000000000000000462644 and $ZSIN($ZPI*2) is –.00000000000000000092529. For this reason you should not perform limit tests comparing these returned values to 0.

Argument

n

An angle in radians ranging from Pi to 2 Pi (inclusive). It can be specified as a value, a variable, or an expression. You can specify the value Pi by using the $ZPI special variable. You can specify positive or negative values smaller than Pi or larger than 2 Pi; InterSystems IRIS resolve these values to the corresponding multiple of Pi. For example, 3 Pi is equivalent to Pi, and negative Pi is equivalent to Pi.

A non-numeric string is evaluated as 0. For evaluation of mixed numeric strings and non-numeric strings, refer to Strings As Numbers.

Examples

The following example permits you to compute the sine of a number:

   READ "Input a number: ",num
   IF $ZABS(num)>(2*$ZPI) { WRITE !,"number is a larger than 2 pi" }
   ELSE { 
         WRITE !,"the sine is: ",$ZSIN(num)
        }
   QUIT

The following example compares the results from InterSystems IRIS fractional numbers ($DECIMAL numbers) and $DOUBLE numbers. In both cases, the sine of pi is a fractional number (not 0), but the sine of pi/2 is set to exactly 1:

  WRITE !,"the sine is: ",$ZSIN($ZPI)
  WRITE !,"the sine is: ",$ZSIN($DOUBLE($ZPI))
  WRITE !,"the sine is: ",$ZSIN($ZPI/2)
  WRITE !,"the sine is: ",$ZSIN($DOUBLE($ZPI)/2)

In the following example, all $ZSIN functions return zero (0):

  WRITE !,"the sine is: ",$ZSIN(0.0)
  WRITE !,"the sine is: ",$ZSIN(-0.0)
  WRITE !,"the sine is: ",$ZSIN($DECIMAL(0.0))
  WRITE !,"the sine is: ",$ZSIN($DOUBLE(0.0))
  WRITE !,"the sine is: ",$ZSIN($DECIMAL(-0.0))
  WRITE !,"the sine is: ",$ZSIN($DOUBLE(-0.0))
  WRITE !,"the sine is: ",$ZSIN(-$DECIMAL(0.0))
  WRITE !,"the sine is: ",$ZSIN(-$DOUBLE(0.0))

This is true on all platforms, including AIX.

See Also

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