'\" et
.TH ERF "3P" 2013 "IEEE/The Open Group" "POSIX Programmer's Manual"
.SH PROLOG
This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.
The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult
the corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior),
or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.

.EQ
delim $$
.EN
.SH NAME
erf,
erff,
erfl
\(em error functions
.SH SYNOPSIS
.LP
.nf
#include <math.h>
.P
double erf(double \fIx\fP);
float erff(float \fIx\fP);
long double erfl(long double \fIx\fP);
.fi
.SH DESCRIPTION
The functionality described on this reference page is aligned with the
ISO\ C standard. Any conflict between the requirements described here and the
ISO\ C standard is unintentional. This volume of POSIX.1\(hy2008 defers to the ISO\ C standard.
.P
These functions shall compute the error function of their argument
.IR x ,
defined as:
.sp
.RS
${2 over sqrt pi} int from 0 to x e"^" " "{- t"^" 2" "} dt$
.RE
.P
An application wishing to check for error situations should set
.IR errno
to zero and call
.IR feclearexcept (FE_ALL_EXCEPT)
before calling these functions. On return, if
.IR errno
is non-zero or \fIfetestexcept\fR(FE_INVALID | FE_DIVBYZERO |
FE_OVERFLOW | FE_UNDERFLOW) is non-zero, an error has occurred.
.SH "RETURN VALUE"
Upon successful completion, these functions shall return the value of
the error function.
.P
If
.IR x
is NaN, a NaN shall be returned.
.P
If
.IR x
is \(+-0, \(+-0 shall be returned.
.P
If
.IR x
is \(+-Inf, \(+-1 shall be returned.
.P
If the correct value would cause underflow, a range error may occur, and
\fIerf\fR(),
\fIerff\fR(),
and
\fIerfl\fR()
shall return an implementation-defined value no greater in magnitude
than DBL_MIN, FLT_MIN, and LDBL_MIN, respectively.
.P
If the IEC 60559 Floating-Point option is supported, 2 *
.IR x /\c
.IR sqrt (\(*p)
should be returned.
.SH ERRORS
These functions may fail if:
.IP "Range\ Error" 12
The result underflows.
.RS 12 
.P
If the integer expression (\fImath_errhandling\fR & MATH_ERRNO) is
non-zero, then
.IR errno
shall be set to
.BR [ERANGE] .
If the integer expression (\fImath_errhandling\fR & MATH_ERREXCEPT) is
non-zero, then the underflow floating-point exception shall be raised.
.RE
.br
.LP
.IR "The following sections are informative."
.SH EXAMPLES
.SS "Computing the Probability for a Normal Variate"
.P
This example shows how to use
\fIerf\fR()
to compute the probability that a normal variate assumes a value in the
range [\fIx\fR1,\fIx\fR2] with \fIx\fR1\(<=\fIx\fR2.
.P
This example uses the constant M_SQRT1_2 which is part of the XSI option.
.sp
.RS 4
.nf
\fB
#include <math.h>
.P
double
Phi(const double x1, const double x2)
{
    return ( erf(x2*M_SQRT1_2) \(mi erf(x1*M_SQRT1_2) ) / 2;
}
.fi \fR
.P
.RE
.SH "APPLICATION USAGE"
Underflow occurs when |\fIx\fP| < DBL_MIN * (\c
.IR sqrt (\(*p)/2).
.P
On error, the expressions (\fImath_errhandling\fR & MATH_ERRNO) and
(\fImath_errhandling\fR & MATH_ERREXCEPT) are independent of each
other, but at least one of them must be non-zero.
.SH RATIONALE
None.
.SH "FUTURE DIRECTIONS"
None.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.IR "\fIerfc\fR\^(\|)",
.IR "\fIfeclearexcept\fR\^(\|)",
.IR "\fIfetestexcept\fR\^(\|)",
.IR "\fIisnan\fR\^(\|)"
.P
The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1\(hy2008,
.IR "Section 4.19" ", " "Treatment of Error Conditions for Mathematical Functions",
.IR "\fB<math.h>\fP"
.SH COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2013 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
-- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
Specifications Issue 7, Copyright (C) 2013 by the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group.
(This is POSIX.1-2008 with the 2013 Technical Corrigendum 1 applied.) In the
event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard
is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online at
http://www.unix.org/online.html .

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