Bad Math Module Notation re: atan2
Lou Pecora
pecora at anvil.nrl.navy.mil
Thu Jun 1 14:59:57 EDT 2000
Maybe you've all kicked this around before, but I've just picked up
Python in the last month or so. The notation for atan2(x,y) is
atan2(x,y)= arctangent( x/y)
Given the usual association of x with the abscissa and y with the
ordinate in mathematics, science and engineering it is easy to mistake
atan2(x,y) as arctangent (y/x) (x and y reversed!). Or in another
view, according to the majority of mathematically trained people
atan2(x,y) as defined appears to deliver the arccotangent.
Am I mising something?
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