Mathematical Functions
Popular mathematical functions are summarized in the following table. Note that certain functions do not require the Math. prefix.
| Function |
Use |
| Math.Abs() |
Returns the absolute value.
Math.Abs(-10) returns 10. |
| Math.Ceiling() |
Returns an integer that is greater than or equal to a number.
Math.Ceiling(5.333) returns 6. |
| Fix() |
Returns the integer portion of a number.
Fix(5.3333) returns 5. |
| Math.Floor() |
Returns an integer that is less than or equal to a number.
Fix(5.3333) returns 5. |
| Int() |
Returns the integer portion of a number.
Int(5.3333) returns 5. |
| Math.Max() |
Returns the larger of two numbers.
Math.Max(5,7) returns 7. |
| Math.Min() |
Returns the smaller of two numbers.
Math.Min(5,7) returns 5. |
| Math.Pow() |
Returns a number raised to a power.
Math.Pow(12,2) returns 144. |
| Rnd() |
Returns a random number between 0 and 1. Used in conjunction with Randomizestatement to initialize the random number generator. |
| Math.Round() |
Rounds a number to a specified number of decimal places. Rounds up on .5.
Math.Round(1.1234567,5) returns 1.12346. |
| Math.Sign() |
Returns the sign of a number. Returns -1 if negative and 1 if positive.
Math.Sign(-5) returns -1. |
| Math.Sqrt() |
Returns the square root of a positive number.
Math.Sqrt(144) returns 12. |
Random Numbers
The Rnd() function returns a random number between 0 and 1. More likely, the need is to generate a number within a particular range, between a given low and high number. This is accomplished with the following formula.
| Math.floor((high - low + 1) * Rnd() + low) |
For instance, to generate a random number between 0 and 10 the formula becomes
Math.floor((10 - 0 + 1) * Rnd() + 0)