Why is there a Math.SQRT2 property in JavaScript?

Question

Why is there a a property in Javascript that returns the approximate square root of 2. Isn't Math.sqrt(2) enough? There is also a property that returns the square root of 0.5.

I'm wondering out of pure curiosity.

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 22 '11 at 23:36

6

This is a constant used in many math equations. Since it is a constant it doesn't need to be calculated each time it's used, and it has high precision.

answered Mar 22 '11 at 23:36

Winger

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And the same holds for PI, E, LN2, LN10, LOG2E, LOG10E, etc. – nibot Mar 23 '11 at 00:00

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 22 '11 at 23:36

3

Convience factor, as seen here, it is actually a widely used constant.

answered Mar 22 '11 at 23:36

Mike Lewis

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 22 '11 at 23:36

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Some values are used often enough that it's faster to store them as constants than to recompute them. The square roots of 2 and 0.5 are two such constants.

answered Mar 22 '11 at 23:36

Gabe

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Why is there a Math.SQRT2 property in JavaScript?

3 Answers3