erfc(3posix)
NAME
erfc, erfcf, erfcl --- complementary error functions
SYNOPSIS
#include <math.h> double erfc(double x); float erfcf(float x); long double erfcl(long double x);
DESCRIPTION
The functionality described on this reference page is aligned with the ISO C standard. Any conflict between the requirements described here and the ISO C standard is unintentional. This volume of POSIX.12008 defers to the ISO C standard. These functions shall compute the complementary error function 1.0 erf(x). An application wishing to check for error situations should set errno to zero and call feclearexcept(FE_ALL_EXCEPT) before calling these functions. On return, if errno is non-zero or fetestexcept(FE_INVALID | FE_DIVBYZERO | FE_OVERFLOW | FE_UNDERFLOW) is non-zero, an error has occurred.
RETURN VALUE
Upon successful completion, these functions shall return the value of the complementary error function. If the correct value would cause underflow, and is not representable, a range error may occur, and erfc(), erfcf(), and erfcl() shall return 0.0, or (if the IEC 60559 Floating-Point option is not supported) an implementation-defined value no greater in magnitude than DBL_MIN, FLT_MIN, and LDBL_MIN, respectively. If x is NaN, a NaN shall be returned. If x is 0, +1 shall be returned. If x is Inf, +2 shall be returned. If x is +Inf, +0 shall be returned. If the correct value would cause underflow and is representable, a range error may occur and the correct value shall be returned.
ERRORS
These functions may fail if:
Range Error The result underflows.
If the integer expression (math_errhandling & MATH_ERRNO)
is non-zero, then errno shall be set to [ERANGE]. If the
integer expression (math_errhandling & MATH_ERREXCEPT) is
non-zero, then the underflow floating-point exception shall
be raised.
The following sections are informative.
EXAMPLES
None.
APPLICATION USAGE
The erfc() function is provided because of the extreme loss of relative accuracy if erf(x) is called for large x and the result subtracted from 1.0. Note for IEEE Std 7541985 double, 26.55 < x implies erfc(x) has underflowed. On error, the expressions (math_errhandling & MATH_ERRNO) and (math_errhandling & MATH_ERREXCEPT) are independent of each other, but at least one of them must be non-zero.
RATIONALE
None.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.
SEE ALSO
erf(), feclearexcept(), fetestexcept(), isnan() The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.12008, Section 4.19, Treatment of Error Conditions for Mathematical Functions, <math.h>
COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2013 Edition, Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7, Copyright (C) 2013 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. (This is POSIX.1-2008 with the 2013 Technical Corrigendum 1 applied.) In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online at http://www.unix.org/online.html . Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of the source files to man page format. To report such errors, see https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .
Opportunity
Personal Opportunity - Free software gives you access to billions of dollars of software at no cost. Use this software for your business, personal use or to develop a profitable skill. Access to source code provides access to a level of capabilities/information that companies protect though copyrights. Open source is a core component of the Internet and it is available to you. Leverage the billions of dollars in resources and capabilities to build a career, establish a business or change the world. The potential is endless for those who understand the opportunity.
Business Opportunity - Goldman Sachs, IBM and countless large corporations are leveraging open source to reduce costs, develop products and increase their bottom lines. Learn what these companies know about open source and how open source can give you the advantage.
Free Software
Free Software provides computer programs and capabilities at no cost but more importantly, it provides the freedom to run, edit, contribute to, and share the software. The importance of free software is a matter of access, not price. Software at no cost is a benefit but ownership rights to the software and source code is far more significant.
Free Office Software - The Libre Office suite provides top desktop productivity tools for free. This includes, a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation engine, drawing and flowcharting, database and math applications. Libre Office is available for Linux or Windows.
Free Books
The Free Books Library is a collection of thousands of the most popular public domain books in an online readable format. The collection includes great classical literature and more recent works where the U.S. copyright has expired. These books are yours to read and use without restrictions.
Source Code - Want to change a program or know how it works? Open Source provides the source code for its programs so that anyone can use, modify or learn how to write those programs themselves. Visit the GNU source code repositories to download the source.
Education
Study at Harvard, Stanford or MIT - Open edX provides free online courses from Harvard, MIT, Columbia, UC Berkeley and other top Universities. Hundreds of courses for almost all major subjects and course levels. Open edx also offers some paid courses and selected certifications.
Linux Manual Pages - A man or manual page is a form of software documentation found on Linux/Unix operating systems. Topics covered include computer programs (including library and system calls), formal standards and conventions, and even abstract concepts.
