Function Summary
Summary of functions contained in SolvePro version 8.
Although defined here using lower case, note that function names can be used using upper or lower case or a mixture of cases. For example Asin, ASIN and aSin are considered to be identical and all represent the function asin.
Trigonometric functions will operate in whatever mode is set in the ActiveEquation object. For example if set to degrees then asin(0.7071) will return 45 (degrees). If set to radians asin(0.7071) will return π/4 (radians).
average(vector), mean(vector)
Returns the arithmetic mean of a vector of numbers
abs(x)
Returns the absolute positive value of x
asin(x)
Returns the angle where x is the sine of that angle
acos(x)
Returns the angle where x is the cosine of that angle
atan(x)
Returns the angle where x is the tangent of that angle
atan2(x, y)
Returns the angle where y divided by x is the tangent of that angle
asinh(x)
Returns the angle where x is the hyperbolic sine of that angle
acosh(x)
Returns the angle where x is the hyperbolic cosine of that angle
atanh(x)
Returns the angle where x is the hyperbolic tangent of that angle
cos(x)
Returns the cosine of the angle x
cosh(x)
Returns the hyperbolic cosine of x
ceil(x)
Returns the ceiling of the specified number, which is the smallest integer that is greater than or equal to x
dnorm(x, mean, sd, max), dnorm(vector, mean, sd, max)
Generates a single value or a vector of numbers distributed according to the normal distribution where
x is a single value at which the normal distribution should be calculated
vector contains a series of values at which to calculate the normal distribution
mean is the centre of the distribution
sd is the standard deviation
max is the maximum value
dlognorm(x, mean, sd, max), dlognorm(vector, mean, sd, max)
Generates a single value or a vector of numbers distributed according to the lognormal distribution where
x is the single value at which the lognormal distribution should be calculated
vector contains a series of values at which to calculate the lognormal distribution
mean is the centre of the distribution
sd is the standard deviation
max is the maximum value
exp(x)
Returns the value of e raised to the power x. i.e. value = ex
dlognorm3(x, mean, sd, gamma, max), dlognorm3(vector, mean, sd, gamma, max)
Generates a single value or a vector of numbers distributed according to the three-parameter
lognormal distribution where
x is the single value at which the lognormal distribution should be calculated
vector contains a series of values at which to calculate the lognormal distribution
mean is the centre of the distribution
sd is the standard deviation
gamma is the threshold (offset) value
max is the maximum valu
e
Returns the mathematical constant e which is the base of natural logarithms, i.e. e = 2.7182818…
factorial(x), !(x)
Returns the factorial of specified number, i.e. 1*2*3* … (x-2)*(x-1)*x
floor(x)
Returns the floor of the specified number, which is the largest integer that is lower than or equal to x
g
Returns the value of the acceleration due to gravity i.e. g = 9.80665 ms2
hide()
This function no longer has any effect and has been removed.
histogram(vector, n), hist(vector, n)
Generates a histogram from the vector by dividing the range of values in vector into n bins or buckets. The result is a new table containing table[0] as the median bin values and table[1] containing the corresponding number of items in each bin.
if(condition, value if true, value if false)
If condition evaluates to true, then value if true is returned. If condition evaluates to false, then value if false is returned. This can be used to convey messages to the reader. For example,
if(iseven(x), “Yes”, “No”) returns either Yes or No depending on whether x is an even number
imag(x), im(x)
Returns the imaginary part of the complex number x
int(x)
Returns the integer part of the real number x
iseven(x)
Returns 1 if the real number x is even, 0 if it is odd
isodd(x)
Returns 1 if the real number x is odd, 0 if it is even
isvar(str, val), var(str, val)
Returns the value of str if str already exists. If str does not exist, str is assigned the value of val and val is returned.
kurtosis(vector), kurt(vector)
Returns the kurtosis of the vectors of values in vector
ln(x)
Returns the natural logarithm of the number x
log(x), log10(x)
Returns the logarithm to base 10 of the number x
log2(x)
Returns the logarithm to base 2 of the number x
min(x, y)
Returns the minimum value of x and y
max(x, y)
Returns the maximum value of x or y
mean(vector), average(vector)
Returns the arithmetic mean of a vector of numbers
median(vector)
Returns the median value of a vector
mod(x, y), x%y
Modulus operator. Returns the remainder of x / y
norm(complex)
Returns the sum of the squares of a complex number such that norm(a + bi) = a2 + b2
pow(x, y), x^y
Returns the value of x raised to the power y.
pi(), π
Returns the mathematical constant pi. π = 3.14159…
polar(radius, angle), pol(radius, angle)
Returns a complex number x + yi corresponding to x and y Cartesian coordinates from the radius and angle polar coordinates supplied. For example if set to use degrees
pol(1.0, 60) returns the complex number 0.5 + 0.866i
percentile(vector, y)
Returns the yth percentile value of the vector.
rangenum(start, end, n)
Generates a vector containing a series of numbers from start to end divided into n parts.
rangeint(start, end, interval)
Generates a vector containing a series of numbers from start to end with the specified interval. Note that if the interval from the last value and the end is not an integer multiple of the interval, then the end value is not included
real(x), re(x)
Returns the real part of the complex number x
root(x, y)
Returns the yth root of the complex number x
rnorm(number, mean, sd), rnorm(n, μ, σ)
Generates a vector of random numbers distributed according to the normal distribution where
number (n) is the number of values to be generated
mean (μ) is the centre of the distribution
sd (σ) is the standard deviation
runif(number, min, max)
Generates a vector of random numbers distributed uniformly across the specified range where
number is the number of values to be generated
min is the minimum value required
max is the maximum number required
rtri(number, min, max, mode)
Generates a vector of random numbers distributed according to the triangular distribution where
number is the number of values to be generated
min is the minimum value required
max is the maximum number required
mode is the most likely or ‘best-guess’ value
rbeta(number, alpha, beta)
Generates a vector of random numbers distributed according to the beta distribution where
number is the number of values to be generated
alpha is a shape parameter
beta is a shape parameter
rpert(number, min, max, mode)
Generates a vector of random numbers distributed according to the PERT distribution where
number is the number of values to be generated
min is the minimum value required
max is the maximum number required
mode is the most likely or ‘best-guess’ value
rmpert(number, min, max, mode, weight)
Generates a vector of random numbers distributed according to the modified PERT distribution where
number is the number of values to be generated
min is the minimum value required
max is the maximum number required
mode is the most likely or ‘best-guess’ value
weight is the weighting applied to the mode
randomreal(min, max)
Returns a random number between min and max
randomint(min, max)
Returns a random integer between min and max
randomsample(vector, nSamples, nMeans), rsample(vector, nSamples, nMeans )
Randomly samples nSamples elements from vector, calculates the mean value from each sample
and returns a vector containing nMean values.
round(x)
Returns the nearest integer to the real number x. Note that 0.5 rounds up to 1
sum(vector), vsum(vector)
Returns the sum of the values contained in vector
sumsqr(vector), vsumsqr(vector)
Returns the sum of the squares of the values contained in vector
show()
This function no longer has any effect and has been removed.
sqrt(x), sqr(x), √(x)
Returns the square of the complex number x
sin(x)
Returns the sine of the angle x
stdev(vector)
Returns the sample standard deviation of the values contained in vector
stdevs(vector)
Returns the sample standard deviation of the values contained in vector
stdevp(vector)
Returns the population standard deviation of the values contained in vector
skew(vector)
Returns the skew of the values contained in vector
sort(vector), vsort(vector)
Generates a new vector containing the elements of vector sorted from lowest to highest.
tan(x)
Returns the tangent to the angle x
tanh(x)
Returns the hyperbolic tangent of the angle x
vadd(vector1, vector2), vjoin(vector1, vector2)
Returns a new vector with vector 2 appended at the end of vector1
vremove(vector, pos, n)
Removes n items starting at position pos from vector and returns a new vector
vreplace(vector, pos, x)
Replaces the item at position pos with the value x
vtable(vector1, vector2)
Returns a table containing the two vectors vector1 and vector2
var(str, val), isvar(str, val, y)
Returns the value of str if str already exists. If str does not exist, str is assigned the value of val and val is returned.
vat(vector, pos), vector[pos], table[n][pos]
Returns the value contained at position pos in vector. To return the value at position pos in vector n in a table use table[n][pos]
vmax(vector)
Returns the maximum value of the items in vector
vmin(vector)
Returns the minimum value of the items in vector
vsum(vector), sum(vector)
Returns the sum of the items in vector
vsumsqr(vector), sumsqr(vector)
Returns the sum of the squares of the items in vector
vview(vector, n, mode)
Displays the first n items in vector. If mode is 0, the values are displayed as a list. If mode is 1 the values are displayed as a simple table. Note that the displayed list or table is regenerated when the document is recalculated so any formatting applied to a table will be lost.
vsort(vector), sort(vector)
Returns a new vector with the contents of vector sorted in order from lowest value to highest value
vreverse(vector)
Returns a new vector with the elements of vector in arranged in reverse order
Mathematical operators
| Operator | Description |
| + | add |
| – | subtract |
| * or x | multiply |
| / or ÷ | divide |
| % | modulus |
| ^ | power |
Logical operators
| Operator | Description |
| > | greater than |
| < | less than |
| >= | greater than or equal to |
| <= | less than or equal to |
| = or == | equal to |
Vector processing
ActiveEquation functions work within SolvePro by performing whatever calculation is defined and then returning the result. Processing vectors of numbers requires a different approach since there may be huge numbers of similar calculations to be performed using different variables within the one ActiveEquation object. This type of processing is defined by checking the ‘Use vectors’ box in an ActiveEquation object. SolvePro deals with this issue by compiling each ActiveEquation calculation into a small section of code and then supplying this code with each of the variables one at a time to perform a calculation. Ultimately this produces a vector of numbers containing all the results of the individual calculations.
Many of the full range of functions in SolvePro are not directly applicable to mathematical processing. As a consequence vector processing operates on a subset of the all the functions which have been defined in SolvePro. The full list of functions and operators which can be used with vectors of numbers are listed below.
Operators and functions
| Operator / Function | Description |
| +, -, *, / | Add, subtract, multiply, divide |
| sqrt(x) or √(x) | Square root |
| pow(x, y) or x^y | Power |
| root(x, y) | Root |
| x%y or mod(x, y) | Modulus |
| abs(x) | Absolute value |
| sig(x) | Sign |
| min(x, y), max(x, y) | Minima, maxima |
| ceil(x), floor(x) | Ceiling, floor |
| round(x) | Rounding |
| cos(x), sin(x), tan(x) | Trigonometrical functions |
| acos(x), asin(x), atan(x), atan2(x) | Inverse trigonometrical functions |
| cosh(x), sinh(x), tanh(x) | Hyperbolic functions |
| acosh(x), asinh(x), atanh(x) | Inverse hyperbolic functions |
| exp(x), ln(x) | Natural logarithms (Base e) |
| log(x) or log10(x) | Logarithm to base 10 |
| log2(x) | Logarithm to base 2 |
| e, pi, g | Built-in constants |