src/java/org/apache/commons/math/special/Erf.java

/*
 * Copyright 2004 The Apache Software Foundation.
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */
package org.apache.commons.math.special;

import java.io.Serializable;

import org.apache.commons.math.MathException;

/**
 * This is a utility class that provides computation methods related to the
 * error functions.
 *
 * @version $Revision$ $Date$
 */
public class Erf implements Serializable {

    /**
     * Default constructor.  Prohibit instantiation.
     */
    private Erf() {
        super();
    }

    /**
     * Returns the error function erf(x).
     * 
     * The implementation of this method is based on:
     * <ul>
     * <li>
     * <a href="http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Erf.html">
     * Erf</a>, equation (3).</li>
     * </ul>
     * 
     * @param x the value.
     * @return the error function erf(x)
     * @throws MathException if the algorithm fails to converge.
     */
    public static double erf(double x) throws MathException {
        double ret = Gamma.regularizedGammaP(0.5, x * x, 1.0e-15, 10000);
        if (x < 0) {
            ret = -ret;
        }
        return ret;
    }
}