February 20, 2008 in Leopard, Spotlight | 5 Comments
Besides doing logical expression, Leopard Spotlight can also do some mathematical calculations. Are you curious what are those functions?
I know a little bit about Java Programming Language, so I try to use the Math library, which contains some functions to do scientific calculations, on Spotlight. To my surprise, some of these functions work.
Here are some examples :
Trigonometry
-
sin(0.5) = 0.479
sinus of 0.5, result in radian. -
cos(0.5) = 0.878
cosinus of 0.5, result in radian. -
tan(0.25) = 0.255
tangent of 0.25, result in radian. -
asin(1) = 1.57
arc sinus of 1 radian. -
acos(1) = 0
arc cosinus of 1 radian. -
atan(1) = 0.785
arc tangent of 1 radian.
Approximation
-
ceil(0.48) = 1
Rounded to nearest smaller integer value. -
rint(0.51) = 1
Rounded to nearest integer value.
Exponential and Logarithm
-
exp(2) = 7.389
Euler's number e to the power of 2. -
pow(5,2) = 25
5 to the power of 2. -
sqrt(36) = 6
Square-root of 36. -
cbrt(216) = 6
Cube-root of 216. -
log(1e3) = 3
Logarithmic base 10 of 1*10^3.
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5 Comments
Himavanth B
well i don't no that it can even calculate Trigonometry and others thanks
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Peter
heh great stuff..
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christian
Of what kind is the relation between Spotlight and the Java Math library?
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Juan de Dios Santander Vela
In fact, Spotlight is written in Objective-C, and uses math.h functions. Java took some of those functions for the java.math package. I've written a exhaustive exploration of math.h functions available through Spotlight's calculator in Spanish, but the functions summary is easily understandable. http://www.entremaqueros.com/bitacoras/memoria/?p=946
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Ben Perry
The following functions also work :
1. fmod(a,b) - remainder of 'a' / 'b'
2. fabs(a) - absolute value of 'a'
3. hypot(a,b) - hypotenuse of triangle with sides 'a' and 'b'
4. j0(a) - zeroth Bessel function of the first kind evaluated at 'a'
5. j1(a) - first Bessel function of the first kind evaluated at 'a'
6. y0(a) - zeroth Bessel function of the second kind evaluated at 'a'
7. y1(a) - first Bessel function of the second kind evaluated at 'a'
8. erf(a) - values of the error function evaluated at 'a'
9. erfc(a) - value of the complementary error function evaluated at 'a'
X. lgamma(a) - value of the logarithm of the gamma function evaluated at 'a'
The first 3 are the most useful for basic math - the rest I have no idea what they're for. Why some of the functions in math.h work and other don't is beyond me. It's not like they're any harder to calculate.
Ben
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