Best Way - Perl Script Calculation

Perl Script Calculation

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By Phaedra Krizo
eHow Contributing Writer

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The following is a strategy guide to performing mathematical calculations using the Perl programming language. Included is a list of numerical operators, a guide to performing basic mathematical functions and examples of how to include Perl math operators and functions in your Perl program. Because Perl only defines the sine and cosine trigonometric functions, this article will also explain how to use the Math::Trig module in your program to perform additional trig and math calculations.

Perl Numeric Operators

The following is a list of the Perl numeric operators and an explanation of what they do.

Addition: "+" is plus.
For example, the line of code "4 + 5" returns 9.

Subtraction: "-" is minus.
For example, the line of code "11.3 - 4" returns 7.3.

Multiplication: "*" is times.
For example, the line of code "3 * 7" returns 21.

Division (floating point): "/" is divided by.
For example, the line of code "10 / 3" returns 3.33333....

Remainder: "%" is mod (returns the remainder after a number is divided by the divisor).
For example, the line of code "7 % 3" returns 1.

Exponents: "**" is to the power of.
For example, the line of code "2**3" returns 8.

Mathematical Functions

To find the square root of x: returnValue = sqrt (x);
To find the absolute value of x: returnValue = abs (x);
To find the natural (base e) logarithm of the x: returnValue = log (x);

Trigonometric Functions

To find the sine of x (in radians): returnValue = sin (x);
To find the cosine of x (in radians): returnValue = cos (x);

Math::Trig Functions---Getting Started

Additional math functions not provided by the basic Perl language can be imported from the Math::Trig module. To use this module, insert the following code into the beginning of your Perl program (just after #!/usr/bin/perl):
use Math::Trig;

Some Math::Trig Functions

tan(x)--returns the tangent of x
acos(x)--returns the inverse cosine of x
asin(x)--returns the inverse sine of x
pi--returns the value of pi
deg2rad(x--converts the value of x (degrees) into radians

For example, the following code:
$returnValue = pi;
Results in:
The value of returnValue is equal to pi.

More Math::Trig Functions--Conversions

The following functions are used to perform conversions between degrees, radians and gradians. (Note: A full circle = 2 pi radians = 360 degrees = 400 gradians.)

deg2rad(x)--converts the value of x (degrees) into radians
grad2rad(x)--converts the value of x (gradians) to radians
rad2deg(x)--converts the value of x (radians) to degrees
grad2deg(x)--converts the value of x (gradians) into degrees
deg2grad(x)--converts the value of x (degrees) into gradians
rad2grad(x)--converts the value of x (radians) to gradians