7.3 math

This package extends Asymptote's mathematical capabilities with point-in-polygon and intersection algorithms and matrix arithmetic.

Unlike MetaPost, Asymptote does not implicitly solve linear equations and therefore does not have the notion of a whatever unknown. Use the built-in explicit linear equation solver solve instead. The following routine provides a useful replacement for a common use of whatever: finding the intersection point of the lines through P, Q and p, q, respectively:

pair extension(pair P, pair Q, pair p, pair q);

Here are some additional routines provided in the math package:

void drawline(picture pic=currentpicture, pair P, pair Q, pen p=currentpen);

draw the visible portion of the (infinite) line going through P and Q, without altering the size of picture pic, using pen p.

real intersect(triple P, triple Q, triple n, triple Z);

Return the intersection time of the extension of the line segment PQ with the plane perpendicular to n and passing through Z.

triple intersectionpoint(triple n0, triple P0, triple n1, triple P1);

Return any point on the intersection of the two planes with normals n0 and n1 passing through points P0 and P1, respectively. If the planes are parallel, return (infinity,infinity,infinity).

bool straight(path p)

returns true iff the path p is straight.

real[][] diagonal(... real[] a)

returns a diagonal matrix with diagonal entries given by a.

pair[] quarticroots(real a, real b, real c, real d);

This routine returns the four complex roots of the quartic equation ax^4+bx^3+cx^2+dx=0.