B4J Code Snippet [B4X]Using Infinity and NaN as special Numbers

@wonder posted https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/threads/return-nan-and-infinity.106046/post-663817

This is an addendum to his posting to show how these two objects are both numbers and not numbers, and how to test for that.

Private Sub specialNumbers
 
    'Infinity behaves in the expected way as as an infinitely large number
    Dim infinity As Double = 1 / 0
    Log(infinity = -Logarithm(0, cE))        'True
    Log((infinity = infinity))                      'True
    Log((infinity = -infinity))                    'False
    Log(TAB)

    Log((infinity + 5))                       'Infinity
    Log((infinity - 5))                        'Infinity
    Log((infinity * 5))                        'Infinity
    Log((infinity / 5))                        'Infinity
    Log((infinity / 0))                        'Infinity
    Log(infinity * infinity)                 'Infinity
    Log(Sqrt(infinity))                       'Infinity
    Log(Power(cE, infinity))              'Infinity
 
    'Numberformat shows a nice infinity symbol
    Log(NumberFormat2(infinity, 1, 0, 0, False))    '∞
 

    Log((1 / infinity))                        '0
    Log((100 / infinity))                    '0
    Log((1000 / infinity))                   '0
    Log((1000 / -infinity))                 '-0
    Log(TAB)
 
    'However, like the Sqrt(-1), the following are undefined and therefore NaN
    Log((infinity / infinity))         'NaN
    Log((infinity / -infinity))        'NaN

    'The simplest NaN is 0 / 0
    Dim NaN As Double = 0 / 0
    Log((NaN = Sqrt(-1000)))        'False    - this is unexpected, but understandable given that the comparison of NaN with anything return False
    Log((NaN = NaN))                   'False
    Log((NaN = -NaN))                  'False
    Log((NaN = "NaN"))                 'False - this is unexpected, but understandable given the order of the string conversion
    Log(("NaN" = NaN))                 'True

    'IsNumber only checks if string can be converted to number, so it's argument is first converted to a string "NaN"
    '                                        which is (paradoxically) interpreted as a valid a number
    Log(IsNumber(Sqrt(-1)))            'True
    Log(IsNumber(0 / 0))                 'True
    Log(IsNumber(0))                      'True
    Log(IsNumber(infinity))             'True

    'NaN is the only "number" that is not equal to itself - this can be used to test for NaN - see
        'Private Sub IsNaN(z As Double) As Boolean
        '    Return z <> z
        'End Sub
 
    Log(IsNaN(Sqrt(-1)))            'True
    Log(IsNaN(0 / 0))                 'True
    Log(IsNaN(0))                       'False
    Log(IsNaN(infinity))              'False
    Log(IsNaN(NaN))                  'True
 
    'all computations with NaN result in NaN          [NaN could be used as "missing" value in Statistics]
    Log((NaN + 5))                   'NaN
    Log((NaN - 5))                    'NaN
    Log((NaN * 5))                    'NaN
    Log((NaN / 5))                    'NaN
    Log((NaN / 0))                    'NaN
    Log(NaN * NaN)                 'NaN
    Log(Sqrt(NaN))                   'NaN
    Log(Power(cE, NaN))          'NaN
    Log((1 / NaN))                    'NaN
    Log((100 / NaN))                'NaN
    Log((1000 / NaN))              'NaN
    Log((NaN / NaN))              'NaN
End Sub

Private Sub IsNaN(z As Double) As Boolean
    Return z <> z
End Sub

Private Sub NotNaN(z As Double) As Boolean
    Return z = z
End Sub

 

[William Lancee]

One important fact to know!

Integers and Longs do not respond to NaN in the way that floats or doubles do

    'The Integer type converts "NaN" into 0;  Float and Double convert it to NaN
    Dim anInteger As Int = "NaN"             'unlike all other strings this one does not a throw an error, which can lead to hard to find bugs
    Dim aFloat As Float = "NaN"
    Dim aDouble As Double = "NaN"
    Log(anInteger & TAB & aFloat & TAB & aDouble)
    'Log: 0    NaN    NaN

    'The following shows how NaN can be used with floats and doubles
    Dim vector As String = $"1, 3, 6, spoiled, 1, ?, 7, 10, 9, , 2, 3"$            'three missing/invalid values
    Dim sum As Int = 0
    Dim num As Int = 0
    Dim v() As String = Regex.Split(",", vector)
    Log(v.Length)
    For Each s As String In v
        If IsNumber(s) = False Then s = "NaN"                'converts "spoiled", "?" and "" to NaN
        Dim a As Float = s           'if this is an Integer or Long, the final answer will be wrong!
        If a = a Then                     'only summed if not NaN => (NaN is NOT equal to itself)
            Log(a)
            sum = sum + a
            num = num + 1
        End If
    Next
    Log(sum & TAB & num & TAB & (sum /num) & TAB & "adjusted sum = " & (v.Length * sum / num))

    'Log: 42    9    4.666666666666667    adjusted sum = 56