[Numpy-discussion] Proposal for changing the names of inverse trigonometrical/hyperbolic functions
Eric Firing
efiring at hawaii.edu
Mon Nov 24 14:31:28 EST 2008
Francesc Alted wrote:
> Hi,
>
> After dealing with another issue, I realized that the names of inverse
> trigonometrical/hyperbolic functions in NumPy don't follow the main
> standards in computer science. For example, where Python writes:
>
> asin, acos, atan, asinh, acosh, atanh
>
> NumPy choose:
>
> arcsin, arccos, arctan, arcsinh, arccosh, arctanh
>
> And not only Python, the former also seems to be the standard in
> computer science. Quoting:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse_hyperbolic_function
>
> """
> The usual abbreviations for them in mathematics are arsinh, arcsinh (in
> the USA) or asinh (in computer science).
> ...
> The acronyms arcsinh, arccosh etc. are commonly used, even though they
> are misnomers, since the prefix arc is the abbreviation for arcus,
> while the prefix ar stands for area.
> """
>
> So, IMHO, I think it would be better to rename the inverse trigonometric
> functions from ``arc*`` to ``a*`` prefix. Of course, in order to do
> that correctly, one should add the new names and add a
> ``DeprecationWarning`` informing that people should start to use the
> new names. After two or three NumPy versions, the old function names
> can be removed safely.
>
> What people think?
>
+1
I have stumbled over this myself. If there is resistance to removing
the old names, then just leave them as synonyms; but definitely numpy
should have asin etc.
Eric
More information about the NumPy-Discussion
mailing list