std::erfc

 

C++

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Technical Specifications

 

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Common mathematical functions

Functions
Basic operations
abs(int)labsllabsimaxabs (C++11) abs(float)fabs divldivlldivimaxdiv (C++11) fmod	remainder (C++11) remquo (C++11) fma (C++11) fmax (C++11) fmin (C++11) fdim (C++11) nannanfnanl (C++11)(C++11)(C++11)
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exp exp2 (C++11) expm1 (C++11)	log log10 log1p (C++11) log2 (C++11)
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sqrt cbrt (C++11)	hypot (C++11) pow
Trigonometric and hyperbolic functions
sin cos tan asin acos atan atan2	sinh cosh tanh asinh (C++11) acosh (C++11) atanh (C++11)

Error and gamma functions
erf (C++11) erfc (C++11)	lgamma (C++11) tgamma (C++11)
Nearest integer floating point operations
ceil floor roundlroundllround (C++11)(C++11)(C++11)	trunc (C++11) nearbyint (C++11) rintlrintllrint (C++11)(C++11)(C++11)
Floating point manipulation functions
ldexp scalbnscalbln (C++11)(C++11) ilogb (C++11) logb (C++11)	frexp modf nextafternexttoward (C++11)(C++11) copysign (C++11)
Classification/Comparison
fpclassify (C++11) isfinite (C++11) isinf (C++11) isnan (C++11) isnormal (C++11) signbit (C++11)	isgreater (C++11) isgreaterequal (C++11) isless (C++11) islessequal (C++11) islessgreater (C++11) isunordered (C++11)
Macro constants
HUGE_VALFHUGE_VALHUGE_VALL (C++11)(C++11) INFINITY (C++11) NAN (C++11) math_errhandlingMATH_ERRNOMATH_ERREXCEPT (C++11)	FP_NORMALFP_SUBNORMALFP_ZEROFP_INFINITEFP_NAN (C++11)(C++11)(C++11)(C++11)(C++11)

 

Defined in header <cmath>
float       erfc( float arg );	(1)	(since C++11)
double      erfc( double arg );	(2)	(since C++11)
long double erfc( long double arg );	(3)	(since C++11)
double      erfc( Integral arg );	(4)	(since C++11)

1-3) Computes the complementary error function of arg, that is 1.0-erf(arg), but without loss of precision for large arg

4) A set of overloads or a function template accepting an argument of any integral type. Equivalent to 2) (the argument is cast to double).

Parameters

arg

-

value of a floating-point or Integral type

Return value

If no errors occur, value of the complementary error function of arg, that is

2

√π

∫∞
arge^-t2
dt or 1-erf(arg), is returned.

If a range error occurs due to underflow, the correct result (after rounding) is returned

Error handling

Errors are reported as specified in math_errhandling

If the implementation supports IEEE floating-point arithmetic (IEC 60559),

• If the argument is +∞, +0 is returned
• If the argument is -∞, 2 is returned
• If the argument is NaN, NaN is returned

Notes

For the IEEE-compatible type double, underflow is guaranteed if arg > 26.55.

Example

Run this code

#include <iostream>
#include <cmath>
#include <iomanip>
double normalCDF(double x) // Phi(-∞, x) aka N(x)
{
    return std::erfc(-x/std::sqrt(2))/2;
}
int main()
{
    std::cout << "normal cumulative distribution function:\n"
              << std::fixed << std::setprecision(2);
    for(double n=0; n<1; n+=0.1)
        std::cout << "normalCDF(" << n << ") " << 100*normalCDF(n) << "%\n";
 
    std::cout << "special values:\n"
              << "erfc(-Inf) = " << std::erfc(-INFINITY) << '\n'
              << "erfc(Inf) = " << std::erfc(INFINITY) << '\n';
}

Output:

normal cumulative distribution function:
normalCDF(0.00) 50.00%
normalCDF(0.10) 53.98%
normalCDF(0.20) 57.93%
normalCDF(0.30) 61.79%
normalCDF(0.40) 65.54%
normalCDF(0.50) 69.15%
normalCDF(0.60) 72.57%
normalCDF(0.70) 75.80%
normalCDF(0.80) 78.81%
normalCDF(0.90) 81.59%
normalCDF(1.00) 84.13%
special values:
erfc(-Inf) = 2.00
erfc(Inf) = 0.00

See also

erf (C++11)	error function (function)
C documentation for erfc

External links

Weisstein, Eric W. "Erfc." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource.