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.\" ========================================================================
.\"
.IX Title "bigrat 3"
.TH bigrat 3 "2002-11-24" "perl v5.8.0" "Perl Programmers Reference Guide"
.SH "NAME"
bigrat \- Transparent BigNumber/BigRational support for Perl
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.IX Header "SYNOPSIS"
.Vb 1
\&  use bigrat;
.Ve
.PP
.Vb 2
\&  $x = 2 + 4.5,"\en";                    # BigFloat 6.5
\&  print 1/3 + 1/4,"\en";                 # produces 7/12
.Ve
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
All operators (inlcuding basic math operations) are overloaded. Integer and
floating-point constants are created as proper BigInts or BigFloats,
respectively.
.PP
Other than bignum, this module upgrades to Math::BigRat, meaning that
instead of 2.5 you will get 2+1/2 as output.
.Sh "\s-1MODULES\s0 \s-1USED\s0"
.IX Subsection "MODULES USED"
\&\f(CW\*(C`bigrat\*(C'\fR is just a thin wrapper around various modules of the Math::BigInt
family. Think of it as the head of the family, who runs the shop, and orders
the others to do the work.
.PP
The following modules are currently used by bignum:
.PP
.Vb 4
\&        Math::BigInt::Lite      (for speed, and only if it is loadable)
\&        Math::BigInt
\&        Math::BigFloat
\&        Math::BigRat
.Ve
.Sh "\s-1MATH\s0 \s-1LIBRARY\s0"
.IX Subsection "MATH LIBRARY"
Math with the numbers is done (by default) by a module called
Math::BigInt::Calc. This is equivalent to saying:
.PP
.Vb 1
\&        use bigrat lib => 'Calc';
.Ve
.PP
You can change this by using:
.PP
.Vb 1
\&        use bigrat lib => 'BitVect';
.Ve
.PP
The following would first try to find Math::BigInt::Foo, then
Math::BigInt::Bar, and when this also fails, revert to Math::BigInt::Calc:
.PP
.Vb 1
\&        use bigrat lib => 'Foo,Math::BigInt::Bar';
.Ve
.PP
Please see respective module documentation for further details.
.Sh "\s-1SIGN\s0"
.IX Subsection "SIGN"
The sign is either '+', '\-', 'NaN', '+inf' or '\-inf' and stored seperately.
.PP
A sign of 'NaN' is used to represent the result when input arguments are not
numbers or as a result of 0/0. '+inf' and '\-inf' represent plus respectively
minus infinity. You will get '+inf' when dividing a positive number by 0, and
\&'\-inf' when dividing any negative number by 0.
.Sh "\s-1METHODS\s0"
.IX Subsection "METHODS"
Since all numbers are not objects, you can use all functions that are part of
the BigInt or BigFloat \s-1API\s0. It is wise to use only the \fIbxxx()\fR notation, and not
the \fIfxxx()\fR notation, though. This makes you independed on the fact that the
underlying object might morph into a different class than BigFloat.
.SH "EXAMPLES"
.IX Header "EXAMPLES"
.Vb 5
\&        perl -Mbigrat -le 'print sqrt(33)'
\&        perl -Mbigrat -le 'print 2*255'
\&        perl -Mbigrat -le 'print 4.5+2*255'
\&        perl -Mbigrat -le 'print 3/7 + 5/7 + 8/3'       
\&        perl -Mbigrat -le 'print 12->is_odd()';
.Ve
.SH "LICENSE"
.IX Header "LICENSE"
This program is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it under
the same terms as Perl itself.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.IX Header "SEE ALSO"
Especially bignum.
.PP
Math::BigFloat, Math::BigInt, Math::BigRat and Math::Big as well
as Math::BigInt::BitVect, Math::BigInt::Pari and  Math::BigInt::GMP.
.SH "AUTHORS"
.IX Header "AUTHORS"
(C) by Tels <http://bloodgate.com/> in early 2002.