Norm

Norm (Function)

Format

norm ( vector )

returns float_expression.

Description

Returns the length of a vector held in an array — the square root of the sum of the squares of its elements, which is the same as the square root of v dot v.

Any number of elements will do, and the shape does not matter: the elements are read in the order they are stored, so a row, a column, or whatever Mat Trn hands back all count as vectors.

The answer is always a decimal number, even where it comes out whole, because a square root is not a whole number except by accident.

norm gives the length; unit gives the direction.

Example

print norm({3,4})
print norm({2,3,6})
print norm({0,0,0})

# a length is the square root of the dot product of a vector with itself
v = {1,2,3}
print norm(v)
print sqr(v dot v)

will print

5.0
7.0
0.0
3.74165738677
3.74165738677

Errors

Error	Cause
136	The value passed is not an array.
139	An element of the vector has never been given a value.

See Also

Arrays, Cross, Dot, Sqr, Unit, Vector Operators

History

2.2	New To Version