Maths/C Question

[NotAGolf]

Could someone help me out with the following equation please. I'm trying to calculate the following equation in C:

                             1
C =   ---------------------------------------------------
         sqrt( cos^2(latitude) + (1-f)^2 * sin^2(latitude) )

First off, is there a function in C to do cos or sin^2(x)? I coulnd't find one, just the ordinary sin/cos functions.

Because I couldn't find out how to do that, I used the following trig identities which I found:

cos^2(x) = 1/2 + 1/2 cos(2x)
and
sin^2(x) = 1/2 - 1/2 cos(2x)

Are these correct?

Thanks for any help!

 

[NotAGolf]

Sorry I'm being a massive spanner. The function works fine now. I just can't tell the difference between longitude and latitude .

The first question still stands though, is there a function for sin/cos^2(x)?

Cheers.

 

[azteched]

cos^2(x) means (cos(x))^2 ...

double c = cos(x)
double cc = c*c /*cc = cos^2(x)*/

 

[BullBoyShoes]

it depends on what platform your running the code on. Most efficient way would be a look up table of precalculated values

 

[Inquisitor]

First off, is there a function in C to do cos or sin^2(x)? I coulnd't find one, just the ordinary sin/cos functions.

Because I couldn't find out how to do that, I used the following trig identities which I found:

cos^2(x) = 1/2 + 1/2 cos(2x)
and
sin^2(x) = 1/2 - 1/2 cos(2x)

Are these correct?

They're correct, but as azteched said, you may as well just calculate the cosine once and then multiply it by itself. It's far cheaper in terms of processing time (not that something so trivial should make any real difference anyway).

it depends on what platform your running the code on. Most efficient way would be a look up table of precalculated values

Or just use the cos function?

 

[Makhaira]

sin/cos = tan. So you can simplify that down to just tan/cos.

 

[BullBoyShoes]

Or just use the cos function?

thats why I said its dependant on the platform its running on. You wont find any trig libraries on an 8-bit micro