Skip to main content

$ZTAN (ObjectScript)

Returns the trigonometric tangent of the specified angle value.

Synopsis

$ZTAN(n)

Argument

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

Description

$ZTAN returns the trigonometric tangent of n. The result is a signed decimal number.

Note:

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

Argument

n

An angle in radians ranging from 0 to 2 Pi. It can be specified as a value, a variable, or an expression.

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 tangent of a number:

   READ "Input a number: ",num
   WRITE !,"the tangent is: ",$ZTAN(num)
   QUIT

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

  WRITE !,"the tangent is: ",$ZTAN(0.0)
  WRITE !,"the tangent is: ",$ZTAN($DOUBLE(0.0))
  WRITE !,"the tangent is: ",$ZTAN($ZPI)
  WRITE !,"the tangent is: ",$ZTAN($DOUBLE($ZPI))
  WRITE !,"the tangent is: ",$ZTAN(1.0)
  WRITE !,"the tangent is: ",$ZTAN($DOUBLE(1.0))

See Also

FeedbackOpens in a new tab