Flash Math

[miquael]

Any good ActionScript mathematicians out there?

I keep getting "NaN" on this value, but should not be.

lambda = (Math.sqrt(((x*2)+(y*2)) - R0) * (1/R1));

where:
x = x coordinate
y = y coordinate
R0 = radius of a circle
R1 = radius of another circle

With this variable, I get a mix of valid numeric values and sometimes "NaN". It appears that the formula is valid, but that some of the values are going beyond what Flash can recognize.

What limitations does ActionScript have with number generation?

[Rothrock]

The only place I see would be a problem is if any of these variables were undefined, or of type text because they were coming from a text field (or XML or some such), or if R1 was equal to zero. You can add this line immediately before lambda.

trace([x,y,R0,R1]);

Paste the response.

[Guest]

Most likely, ((x*2)+(y*2)) - R0 < 0. Flash can't square root negative numbers.

[Rothrock]

D'oh! I should have seen that coming. Yeah.

[kglad]

beyond that being the root of a negative number, when he's getting NaN:

x*2 +y*2 should probably be x*x + y*y.

[clbeech]

interesting, this might explain why a few of my pythagorean calcs don't always work too. So other than tracking the quad, and using Math.abs, how could one go about making this calc on a cartesian system? use other trig, I suppose, or Point.distance prop?

EDIT: strike that 🙂