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ABS
returns the absolute value of its argument. For
example, ‘ABS(99)’ and ‘ABS(-99)’ are
both ‘99’.
BITS
returns the minimum number of bits needed to
store its argument. For example, ‘BITS(12345)’ is
‘14’ because 2^14 is 16,384, which is larger
than 12,345, while 2^13 is 8,192, which is too small.
‘BITS(0)’ is defined to be ‘0’.
Essentially, ‘BITS(x)’
represents the ceiling of the base-2 logarithm of x.
Negative numbers are treated as their two’s-complement equivalent.
For example, ‘BITS(-1)’ returns ‘32’ on a
32-bit system and ‘64’ on a 64-bit system.
CBRT
is an integer cube root function. It is
essentially just syntactic sugar for the more general ROOT
function:
‘CBRT(x)’ =
‘ROOT(3, x)’.
FACTOR10
rounds its argument down (more precisely,
towards zero) to the largest single-digit factor of an integral
power of 10. ‘FACTOR10(4975)’ is
therefore ‘4000’. Similarly,
‘FACTOR10(-4975)’ is ‘-4000’.
‘LOG10(x)’ is the floor of the base-10 logarithm of x. For instance, ‘LOG10(12345)’ is ‘4’ because 10^4 is the largest integral power of 10 that does not exceed 12,345.
MIN
and
MAX
return, respectively, the minimum and maximum
value in a list of numbers. Unlike the other built-in functions,
MIN
and
MAX
accept
an arbitrary number of arguments (but at least one). For example,
‘MIN(8,6,7,5,3,0,9)’ is ‘0’
and ‘MAX(8,6,7,5,3,0,9)’
is ‘9’.
‘ROOT(n, x)’ returns the
nth root of x. More precisely, it returns the
largest integer r such that r^n <= x. ROOT
is not
currently defined on negative values of x. As an example
of ROOT
usage, ‘ROOT(5, 245)’ is ‘3’ because
3^5 = 243 <= 245 while 4^5 = 1024 > 245.
Similarly, ‘ROOT(2, 16)’ =
‘4’; ‘ROOT(3, 27)’ =
‘3’; ‘ROOT(0, 0)’ and
‘ROOT(4, -245)’ each return a run-time error; and,
‘ROOT(-3, 8)’ =
‘0’ (because ‘ROOT(-3, 8)’ =
‘1/ROOT(3, 8)’ =
‘1/2’ = ‘0’).
SQRT
is an integer square root function. It is
essentially just syntactic sugar for the more general ROOT
function:
‘SQRT(x)’ =
‘ROOT(2, x)’.
Next: Floating-point functions, Previous: Built-in functions, Up: Built-in functions [Contents][Index]