erf(3)

NAME
erf, erff, erfl - error function

LIBRARY
Math library (libm, -lm)

SYNOPSIS
#include <math.h>

double erf(double x);
float erff(float x);
long double erfl(long double x);

    Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):

erf():
    _ISOC99_SOURCE || _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200112L || _XOPEN_SOURCE
        || /* Since glibc 2.19: */ _DEFAULT_SOURCE
        || /* glibc <= 2.19: */ _BSD_SOURCE || _SVID_SOURCE

erff(), erfl():
    _ISOC99_SOURCE || _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200112L
        || /* Since glibc 2.19: */ _DEFAULT_SOURCE
        || /* glibc <= 2.19: */ _BSD_SOURCE || _SVID_SOURCE

DESCRIPTION
These functions return the error function of x, defined as

    erf(x) = 2/sqrt(pi) * integral from 0 to x of exp(-t*t) dt

RETURN VALUE
On success, these functions return the value of the error function of x, a value in the range [-1, 1].

If x is a NaN, a NaN is returned.

If x is +0 (-0), +0 (-0) is returned.

If x is positive infinity (negative infinity), +1 (-1) is returned.

If x is subnormal, a range error occurs, and the return value is 2*x/sqrt(pi).

ERRORS
See math_error(7) for information on how to determine whether an error has occurred when calling these functions.

The following errors can occur:

Range error: result underflow (x is subnormal)
    An underflow floating-point exception (FE_UNDERFLOW) is raised.

These functions do not set errno.

ATTRIBUTES
For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).
Interface | Attribute | Value
 | Thread safety | MT-Safe

STANDARDS
C11, POSIX.1-2008.

HISTORY
C99, POSIX.1-2001.

The variant returning double also conforms to SVr4, 4.3BSD.

SEE ALSO
cerf(3), erfc(3), exp(3)