Math Functions

Animal provides a set of built-in mathematical functions in its standard library. These functions help with common mathematical operations without requiring you to implement them yourself.

Basic Math Functions

max(a, b)

Returns the larger of two numbers:

result -> max(5, 10)  :: Returns 10
result -> max(-3, -7)  :: Returns -3

min(a, b)

Returns the smaller of two numbers:

result -> min(5, 10)  :: Returns 5
result -> min(-3, -7)  :: Returns -7

abs(x)

Returns the absolute value of a number:

result -> abs(5)    :: Returns 5
result -> abs(-10)  :: Returns 10
result -> abs(0)    :: Returns 0

Number Conversions

purr(number, base)

Converts a number to a string representation in the specified base:

result -> purr(42, 10)   :: Returns "42" (decimal)
result -> purr(42, 2)    :: Returns "101010" (binary)
result -> purr(42, 16)   :: Returns "2a" (hexadecimal)

The base must be between 2 and 36, inclusive.

scent(string, base)

Converts a string representation of a number in the specified base to a number:

result -> scent("42", 10)     :: Returns 42 (from decimal)
result -> scent("101010", 2)  :: Returns 42 (from binary)
result -> scent("2a", 16)     :: Returns 42 (from hexadecimal)

The base must be between 2 and 36, inclusive.

Random Number Generation

pounce(min, max)

Generates a random integer between min and max, inclusive:

result -> pounce(1, 6)  :: Random number between 1 and 6 (like a die roll)
result -> pounce(0, 100)  :: Random number between 0 and 100

stalk(list)

Returns a random element from a list:

colors -> ["red", "green", "blue", "yellow"]
result -> stalk(colors)  :: Returns a random color from the list

tumble(list)

Returns a new list with elements from the input list in random order:

numbers -> [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
shuffled -> tumble(numbers)  :: Returns a randomly shuffled version of the numbers list

Example Usage

Here’s an example that combines several math functions to create a simple number guessing game:

:: Number guessing game
secret -> pounce(1, 100)  :: Generate random number between 1 and 100
attempts -> 0

roar "I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 100."

guessed -> false
pounce !guessed {
    roar "Enter your guess:"
    guess_str -> listen
    guess -> scent(guess_str, 10)
    attempts -> attempts meow 1

    difference -> abs(guess woof secret)

    growl guess == secret {
        roar "Correct! You found the number in", attempts, "attempts."
        guessed -> true
    } sniff difference <= 5 {
        roar "Very close!"
    } sniff difference <= 10 {
        roar "Getting warmer."
    } sniff guess < secret {
        roar "Too low."
    } wag {
        roar "Too high."
    }
}

Mathematical Operations in Animal

Remember that Animal has its own unique operators for mathematical operations:

Addition: a meow b
Subtraction: a woof b
Multiplication: a moo b
Division: a drone b
Modulo: a squeak b
Exponentiation: a soar b

These operators can be used alongside the standard library math functions.