Lua math standard library

Version: alpha

Documentation for the Lua math standard library.

From Lua 5.1 Reference Manual by Roberto Ierusalimschy, Luiz Henrique de Figueiredo, Waldemar Celes.

Freely available under the terms of the Lua license.

FUNCTION
math.abs()	absolute value
math.acos()	arc cosine
math.asin()	arc sine
math.atan()	arc tangent
math.atan2()	arc tangent of v1/v2
math.ceil()	next higher integer value
math.cos()	cosine
math.cosh()	hyperbolic cosine
math.deg()	convert from radians to degrees
math.exp()	raises e to a power
math.floor()	next smaller integer value
math.fmod()	the modulus (remainder) of doing: v1 / v2
math.frexp()	break number into mantissa and exponent
math.ldexp()	compute m* 2^n
math.log()	natural log
math.log10()	log to the base 10
math.max()	the highest of one or more numbers
math.min()	the lowest of one or more numbers
math.modf()	returns the integral and fractional part of its argument
math.pow()	raise a number to a power
math.rad()	convert degrees to radians
math.random()	generate a random number
math.randomseed()	seeds the random number generator
math.sin()	sine
math.sinh()	hyperbolic sine
math.sqrt()	square root
math.tan()	tangent
math.tanh()	hyperbolic tangent

CONSTANT
math.huge	a huge value
math.pi	the value of pi

Functions

math.abs()

math.abs(x)

Returns the absolute value of x.

PARAMETERS

x

math.acos()

math.acos(x)

Returns the arc cosine of x (in radians).

PARAMETERS

x

math.asin()

math.asin(x)

Returns the arc sine of x (in radians).

PARAMETERS

x

math.atan()

math.atan(x)

Returns the arc tangent of x (in radians).

PARAMETERS

x

math.atan2()

math.atan2(y,x)

Returns the arc tangent of y/x (in radians), but uses the signs of both parameters to find the quadrant of the result. (It also handles correctly the case of x being zero.)

PARAMETERS

`y`
`x`

math.ceil()

math.ceil(x)

Returns the smallest integer larger than or equal to x.

PARAMETERS

x

math.cos()

math.cos(x)

Returns the cosine of x (assumed to be in radians).

PARAMETERS

x

math.cosh()

math.cosh(x)

Returns the hyperbolic cosine of x.

PARAMETERS

x

math.deg()

math.deg(x)

Returns the angle x (given in radians) in degrees.

PARAMETERS

x

math.exp()

math.exp(x)

Returns the value e^x.

PARAMETERS

x

math.floor()

math.floor(x)

Returns the largest integer smaller than or equal to x.

PARAMETERS

x

math.fmod()

math.fmod(x,y)

Returns the remainder of the division of x by y that rounds the quotient towards zero.

PARAMETERS

`x`
`y`

math.frexp()

math.frexp(x)

Returns m and e such that x = m2^e, e is an integer and the absolute value of m is in the range [0.5, 1) (or zero when x is zero).

PARAMETERS

x

math.ldexp()

math.ldexp(m,e)

Returns m2^e (e should be an integer).

PARAMETERS

`m`
`e`

math.log()

math.log(x)

Returns the natural logarithm of x.

PARAMETERS

x

math.log10()

math.log10(x)

Returns the base-10 logarithm of x.

PARAMETERS

x

math.max()

math.max(x,...)

Returns the maximum value among its arguments.

PARAMETERS

`x`
`...`

math.min()

math.min(x,...)

Returns the minimum value among its arguments.

PARAMETERS

`x`
`...`

math.modf()

math.modf(x)

Returns two numbers, the integral part of x and the fractional part of x.

PARAMETERS

x

math.pow()

math.pow(x,y)

Returns x^y. (You can also use the expression x^y to compute this value.)

PARAMETERS

`x`
`y`

math.rad()

math.rad(x)

Returns the angle x (given in degrees) in radians.

PARAMETERS

x

math.random()

math.random([m],[n])

This function is an interface to the simple pseudo-random generator function rand provided by ANSI C. (No guarantees can be given for its statistical properties.)

When called without arguments, returns a uniform pseudo-random real number in the range [0,1). When called with an integer number m, math.random returns a uniform pseudo-random integer in the range [1, m]. When called with two integer numbers m and n, math.random returns a uniform pseudo-random integer in the range [m, n].

PARAMETERS