Mathematical functions
This module provides access to the mathematical functions defined by the C
standard.
These functions cannot be used with complex numbers; use the functions of the
same name from the cmath module if you require support for complex numbers. The
distinction between functions which support complex numbers and those which don’t
is made since most users do not want to learn quite as much mathematics as
required to understand complex numbers. Receiving an exception instead of a
complex result allows earlier detection of the unexpected complex number used as a
parameter, so that the programmer can determine how and why it was generated in
the first place.
The following functions are provided by this module. Except when explicitly noted
otherwise, all return values are floats.
Number-theoretic and representation functions
math.ceil(x)
Return the ceiling of x, the smallest integer greater than or equal to x. If x is
not a float, delegates to x.__ceil__(), which should return an Integral value.
math.comb(n, k)
Return the number of ways to choose k items from n items without repetition
and without order.
Evaluates to n! / (k! * (n - k)!) when k <= n and evaluates to zero
when k > n.
Also called the binomial coefficient because it is equivalent to the coefficient
of k-th term in polynomial expansion of the expression (1 + x) ** n.
Raises TypeError if either of the arguments are not integers.
Raises ValueError if either of the arguments are negative.
New in version 3.8.
math.copysign(x, y)
Return a float with the magnitude (absolute value) of x but the sign of y. On
platforms that support signed zeros, copysign(1.0, -0.0) returns -1.0.
math.fabs(x)
Return the absolute value of x.
math.factorial(x)
Return x factorial as an integer. Raises ValueError if x is not integral or is
negative.
Deprecated since version 3.9: Accepting floats with integral values (like 5.0) is
deprecated.
math.floor(x)
Return the floor of x, the largest integer less than or equal to x. If x is not a
float, delegates to x.__floor__(), which should return an Integral value.
math.fmod(x, y)
Return fmod(x, y), as defined by the platform C library. Note that the Python
expression x % y may not return the same result. The intent of the C
standard is that fmod(x, y) be exactly (mathematically; to infinite precision)
equal to x - n*y for some integer n such that the result has the same sign
as x and magnitude less than abs(y). Python’s x % y returns a result with the
sign of y instead, and may not be exactly computable for float arguments. For
example, fmod(-1e-100, 1e100) is -1e-100, but the result of Python’s -1e-
100 % 1e100 is 1e100-1e-100, which cannot be represented exactly as a float,
and rounds to the surprising 1e100. For this reason, function fmod() is generally
preferred when working with floats, while Python’s x % y is preferred when
working with integers.
math.frexp(x)
Return the mantissa and exponent of x as the pair (m, e). m is a float and e is
an integer such that x == m * 2**e exactly. If x is zero, returns (0.0, 0),
otherwise 0.5 <= abs(m) < 1. This is used to “pick apart” the internal
representation of a float in a portable way.
math.fsum(iterable)
Return an accurate floating point sum of values in the iterable. Avoids loss of
precision by tracking multiple intermediate partial sums:
>>>
>>> sum([.1, .1, .1, .1, .1, .1, .1, .1, .1, .1])
0.9999999999999999
>>> fsum([.1, .1, .1, .1, .1, .1, .1, .1, .1, .1])
1.0
The algorithm’s accuracy depends on IEEE-754 arithmetic guarantees and
the typical case where the rounding mode is half-even. On some non-
Windows builds, the underlying C library uses extended precision addition and
may occasionally double-round an intermediate sum causing it to be off in its
least significant bit.
For further discussion and two alternative approaches, see the ASPN
cookbook recipes for accurate floating point summation.
math.gcd(*integers)
Return the greatest common divisor of the specified integer arguments. If any
of the arguments is nonzero, then the returned value is the largest positive
integer that is a divisor of all arguments. If all arguments are zero, then the
returned value is 0. gcd() without arguments returns 0.
New in version 3.5.
Changed in version 3.9: Added support for an arbitrary number of arguments.
Formerly, only two arguments were supported.
math.isclose(a, b, *, rel_tol=1e-
09, abs_tol=0.0)
Return True if the values a and b are close to each other and False otherwise.
Whether or not two values are considered close is determined according to
given absolute and relative tolerances.
rel_tol is the relative tolerance – it is the maximum allowed difference
between a and b, relative to the larger absolute value of a or b. For example,
to set a tolerance of 5%, pass rel_tol=0.05. The default tolerance is 1e-09,
which assures that the two values are the same within about 9 decimal
digits. rel_tol must be greater than zero.
abs_tol is the minimum absolute tolerance – useful for comparisons near
zero. abs_tol must be at least zero.
If no errors occur, the result will be: abs(a-
b) <= max(rel_tol * max(abs(a), abs(b)), abs_tol).
The IEEE 754 special values of NaN, inf, and -inf will be handled according to
IEEE rules. Specifically, NaN is not considered close to any other value,
including NaN. inf and -inf are only considered close to themselves.
New in version 3.5.
See also
PEP 485 – A function for testing approximate equality
math.isfinite(x)
Return True if x is neither an infinity nor a NaN, and False otherwise. (Note
that 0.0 is considered finite.)
New in version 3.2.
math.isinf(x)
Return True if x is a positive or negative infinity, and False otherwise.
math.isnan(x)
Return True if x is a NaN (not a number), and False otherwise.
math.isqrt(n)
Return the integer square root of the nonnegative integer n. This is the floor of
the exact square root of n, or equivalently the greatest integer a such
that a² ≤ n.
For some applications, it may be more convenient to have the least
integer a such that n ≤ a², or in other words the ceiling of the exact square
root of n. For positive n, this can be computed using a = 1 + isqrt(n - 1).
New in version 3.8.
math.lcm(*integ
ers)
Return the least common multiple of the specified integer arguments. If all
arguments are nonzero, then the returned value is the smallest positive
integer that is a multiple of all arguments. If any of the arguments is zero, then
the returned value is 0. lcm() without arguments returns 1.
New in version 3.9.
math.ldexp(x
, i)
Return x * (2**i). This is essentially the inverse of function frexp().
math.mod
f(x)
Return the fractional and integer parts of x. Both results carry the sign
of x and are floats.
math.n
extaf
ter(x,
y)
Return the next floating-point value after x towards y.
If x is equal to y, return y.
Examples:
math.nextafter(x, math.inf) goes up: towards positive infinity.
math.nextafter(x, -math.inf) goes down: towards minus infinity.
math.nextafter(x, 0.0) goes towards zero.
math.nextafter(x, math.copysign(math.inf, x)) goes away from zero.
See also math.ulp().
New in version 3.9.
mat
h.p
er
m(n,
k=N
one
)
Return the number of ways to choose k items from n items without repetition
and with order.
Evaluates to n! / (n - k)! when k <= n and evaluates to zero when k > n.
If k is not specified or is None, then k defaults to n and the function returns n!.
Raises TypeError if either of the arguments are not integers.
Raises ValueError if either of the arguments are negative.
New in version 3.8.
m
a
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.
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o
d
(
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t
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a
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,
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,
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t
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)
Calculate the product of all the elements in the input iterable. The
default start value for the product is 1.
When the iterable is empty, return the start value. This function is intended
specifically for use with numeric values and may reject non-numeric types.
New in version 3.8.
mat
h.r
em
ai
nd
er(
x, y
)
Return the IEEE 754-style remainder of x with respect to y. For finite x and
finite nonzero y, this is the difference x - n*y, where n is the closest integer to
the exact value of the quotient x / y. If x / y is exactly halfway between two
consecutive integers, the nearest even integer is used for n. The
remainder r = remainder(x, y) thus always satisfies abs(r) <= 0.5 * abs(y).
Special cases follow IEEE 754: in particular, remainder(x, math.inf) is x for any
finite x, and remainder(x, 0) and remainder(math.inf, x) raise ValueError for any
non-NaN x. If the result of the remainder operation is zero, that zero will have
the same sign as x.
On platforms using IEEE 754 binary floating-point, the result of this operation
is always exactly representable: no rounding error is introduced.
New in version 3.7.
math.t
runc(
x)
Return the Real value x truncated to an Integral (usually an integer). Delegates
to x.__trunc__().
math.ulp(
x)
Return the value of the least significant bit of the float x:
If x is a NaN (not a number), return x.
If x is negative, return ulp(-x).
If x is a positive infinity, return x.
If x is equal to zero, return the smallest
positive denormalized representable float (smaller than the minimum
positive normalized float, sys.float_info.min).
If x is equal to the largest positive representable float, return the value
of the least significant bit of x, such that the first float smaller
than x is x - ulp(x).
Otherwise (x is a positive finite number), return the value of the least
significant bit of x, such that the first float bigger than x is x + ulp(x).
ULP stands for “Unit in the Last Place”.
See also math.nextafter() and sys.float_info.epsilon.
New in version 3.9.
Note
that frexp() and
odf() have
different
call/return
pattern than th
C equivalen
they take
single argum
and return a p
of values, rat
than return
their seco
return va
through
‘output
parameter’
(there is no su
thing in Python
For
the ceil(), floor
and modf() fun
ons, n
that all floating
point numbers
sufficiently la
magnitude
exact intege
Python flo
typically carry
more than
bits of precis
(the same as
platform
double type),
which case a
float x with abs
>= 2**52 nece
arily has
fractional bits.
Power an
logarithm
c function
math.exp(x)
Return e raised to the power x, where e = 2.718281… is the base of natural
logarithms. This is usually more accurate than math.e ** x or pow(math.e, x).
math.expm1
Return e raised to the power x, minus 1. Here e is the base of natural
logarithms. For small floats x, the subtraction in exp(x) - 1 can result in
a significant loss of precision; the expm1() function provides a way to compute
this quantity to full precision:
>>>
>>> from math import exp, expm1
>>> exp(1e-5) - 1 # gives result accurate to 11 places
1.0000050000069649e-05
>>> expm1(1e-5) # result accurate to full precision
1.0000050000166668e-05
New in version 3.2.
math.log(x[
With one argument, return the natural logarithm of x (to base e).
With two arguments, return the logarithm of x to the given base, calculated
as log(x)/log(base).
math.log1p
Return the natural logarithm of 1+x (base e). The result is calculated in a way
which is accurate for x near zero.
math.log2(
Return the base-2 logarithm of x. This is usually more accurate than log(x, 2).
New in version 3.3.
See also
int.bit_length() returns the number of bits necessary to represent an integer in
binary, excluding the sign and leading zeros.
math.log10
Return the base-10 logarithm of x. This is usually more accurate
than log(x, 10).
math.pow(x,
Return x raised to the power y. Exceptional cases follow Annex ‘F’ of the C99
standard as far as possible. In particular, pow(1.0, x) and pow(x, 0.0) always
return 1.0, even when x is a zero or a NaN. If both x and y are finite, x is
negative, and y is not an integer then pow(x, y) is undefined, and
raises ValueError.
Unlike the built-in ** operator, math.pow() converts both its arguments to
type float. Use ** or the built-in pow() function for computing exact integer
powers.
math.sqrt(
Return the square root of x.
Trigonom
math.acos(
Return the arc cosine of x, in radians. The result is between 0 and pi.
math.asin(
Return the arc sine of x, in radians. The result is between -pi/2 and pi/2.
math.atan(
Return the arc tangent of x, in radians. The result is between -pi/2 and pi/2.
math.atan2
Return atan(y / x), in radians. The result is between -pi and pi. The vector in
the plane from the origin to point (x, y) makes this angle with the positive X
axis. The point of atan2() is that the signs of both inputs are known to it, so it
can compute the correct quadrant for the angle. For
example, atan(1) and atan2(1, 1) are both pi/4, but atan2(-1, -1) is -3*pi/4.
math.cos(x)
Return the cosine of x radians.
math.dist(
Return the Euclidean distance between two points p and q, each given as a
sequence (or iterable) of coordinates. The two points must have the same
dimension.
Roughly equivalent to:
sqrt(sum((px - qx) ** 2.0 for px, qx in zip(p, q)))
New in version 3.8.
math.hypot
Return the Euclidean norm, sqrt(sum(x**2 for x in coordinates)). This is the
length of the vector from the origin to the point given by the coordinates.
For a two dimensional point (x, y), this is equivalent to computing the
hypotenuse of a right triangle using the Pythagorean
theorem, sqrt(x*x + y*y).
Changed in version 3.8: Added support for n-dimensional points. Formerly,
only the two dimensional case was supported.
math.sin(x)
Return the sine of x radians.
math.tan(x)
Return the tangent of x radians.
Angular c
math.degre
Convert angle x from radians to degrees.
math.radia
Convert angle x from degrees to radians.
Hyperbol
Hyperbolic fun
of circles.
math.acosh
Return the inverse hyperbolic cosine of x.
math.asinh
Return the inverse hyperbolic sine of x.
math.atanh
Return the inverse hyperbolic tangent of x.
math.cosh(
Return the hyperbolic cosine of x.
math.sinh(
Return the hyperbolic sine of x.
math.tanh(
Return the hyperbolic tangent of x.
Special fu
math.erf(x)
Return the error function at x.
The erf() function can be used to compute traditional statistical functions such
as the cumulative standard normal distribution:
def phi(x):
'Cumulative distribution function for the standard
normal distribution'
return (1.0 + erf(x / sqrt(2.0))) / 2.0
New in version 3.2.
math.erfc(
Return the complementary error function at x. The complementary error
function is defined as 1.0 - erf(x). It is used for large values of x where a
subtraction from one would cause a loss of significance.
New in version 3.2.
math.gamma
Return the Gamma function at x.
New in version 3.2.
math.lgamm
Return the natural logarithm of the absolute value of the Gamma function at x.
New in version 3.2.
Constant
math.pi
The mathematical constant π = 3.141592…, to available precision.
math.e
The mathematical constant e = 2.718281…, to available precision.
math.tau
The mathematical constant τ = 6.283185…, to available precision. Tau is a
circle constant equal to 2π, the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its radius.
To learn more about Tau, check out Vi Hart’s video Pi is (still) Wrong, and
start celebrating Tau day by eating twice as much pie!
New in version 3.6.
math.inf
A floating-point positive infinity. (For negative infinity, use -math.inf.) Equivalent
to the output of float('inf').
New in version 3.5.
math.nan
A floating-point “not a number” (NaN) value. Equivalent to the output
of float('nan').
New in version 3.5.
CPython imp
follows Annex
Annex F reco
returned from
following C99
Note that Pyth
treat all NaNs
