Expertsystemen

 

Formulas and functions: numbers

In the sections getting started with formulas and getting started with functions the basics of this topic are presented. This section is specifically about the use of formulas and functions to edit numbers. Examples of models that show how to use these functions can be found at the example models.

The basic math operations - adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing - all work as you might expect in xxllnc Expertsystemen. For example, consider two variables: number1 and number2:

number1 + number2
number1 - number2
number1 * number2
number1 / number2

You can of course do the same with plain numbers as well:

7 * 8 = 56
5 * 6 / 3 = 10

And so on. If you want to do more complex calculations this way, you can also use parentheses:

8 * (5 - 3) = 16
(number1 + number2) / (number1 * 5)

Functions on numbers

xxllnc Expertsystemen has several functions that are useful when working with numbers. Below most of them are presented with some examples. Whenever you are working in xxllnc Expertsystemen, you can always look up the functions with their help text via the Finder.

Power and square root

The power() function calculates a number to a given power. The first parameter you need to enter is the number and the second the power. For example:

power(5,2) = 25
power(12,2) = 144
power(3,3) = 27

The square root is calculated in similar fashion, but with the sqrt() function:

sqrt(9) = 3
sqrt(144) = 12
Min and max

The functions min() and max() are useful when working with variables. max() always returns the largest number of two given numbers. min() always gives the smallest. Given variables number1 and number2 with values 10 and 5:

min(number1, number2) = number2
max(number1, number2) = number1
max(100, 3) = 100
min(100, 3) = 3
Rounding

Rounding numbers is useful in a lot of situations. In xxllnc Expertsystemen, the function round() does the job. You need to give two parameters: the number you want to round and the precision (number of decimals). Some examples:

round(1.234, 2) = 1.23
round(1.23456, 4) = 1.2346

Note that you have to use dots in xxllnc Expertsystemen for decimals!