The applets on this web use a function parser which uses a syntax which should be very familiar to anyone who has done any computer programming or used any computer math software. Probably the best way to learn how to use this interface is to look at some examples...
| If I wanted... | I would enter... |
| 10.5 | 10.5 |
| negative 150 | -150 |
| 1.344 x 105 | 1.344E5 |
| 0.000001244 | 0.000001244 or 1.244E-6 |
Note that the "E" must be upper case. 1.2E3 works, 1.2e3 doesn't.
| If I wanted... | I would enter... |
| 10.5 time 2.3 | 10.5*2.3 |
| 2 plus 4 divided by 12.5 | 2+4/12.5 |
| 2 plus 4 all divided by 12.5 | (2+4)/12.5 |
| 4 squared | 4^2 |
Valid operators are: + (add), - (subtract), * (multiply), / (divide), and ^ (raise to the power)
| If I wanted... | I would enter... |
| x | x |
| 2 time y plus x | 2*y+x |
| x raised to the power of y | x^y |
| power times t | power*t |
Each box will be set up to use one or more specific variables. Text near the box should tell you which variable you should be using in your equations. For example, if you were told to enter the function f(x, spam), that would mean that the variables you were allowed to use are x and spam.
| If I wanted... | I would enter... |
| sine of x | sin(x) |
| natural log of 2 | ln(2) |
| the absolute value of time | abs(time) |
| the square root of the cosine of 4π | sqrt(cos(4*pi)) |
Valid functions and constants are
| sin(), cos() tan(), asin(), acos() atan() | trig and inverse trig functions (note that all angles are assumed to be in radians) | ||
| sinh(), cosh(), tanh() | hyperbolic trig functions | ||
| ln(), exp() | natural logarithm and exponentiation | ||
| log2(), log10() | base 2 and base 10 logarithms | ||
| sqrt() | square root | ||
| abs() | absolute value | ||
| sign() | sign(x) returns +1 if x is positive or -1 if it is negative | ||
| neg() | negation (neg(2) = -2, neg(-4) = 4) | ||
| round(), ceil(), floor() | round to nearest integer, round up, and round down | ||
| random() | random(a) returns a random number between 0 and a | ||
| step() | step function (step(x) returns 0 if x < 0 or 1 if x > 0) | ||
| squarepulse(), trianglepulse() | squarepulse(x) and trianglepulse(x) return zero unless x is between -1 and 1. If x is in this region squarepulse(x) returns 1, and trianglepulse(x) returns a triangle shape which is 0 at x=+/- 1 and grows linearly to 1 as x approaches zero. | ||
| squarewave(), trianglewave() | squarewave(x) and triangelwave(x) are periodic functions of x, repeating themselves each time that x increases by 1. They both oscillate between -1 and 1. squarewave(x) returns 1 at x=0. At x=0.5 it drops to -1. trianglewave(x) is equal to 1 at x=0. It ramps linearly down to -1 at x=0.5, and then ramps linearly back up to 1 at x=1. | ||
| e, pi | the natural number e and the constant π |