C hypot Hypotenuse Function

In this C++ tutorial, you will learn how to find square root of sum of square of given numbers using hypot() function of cmath, with syntax and examples.

C hypot

C++ hypot() returns square root of sum of square of given arguments.

This formula is used for finding the length of hypotenuse when the lengths of other two sides of a right angled triangle are given. Hence, the function name hypot().

Syntax

The syntax of C++ hypot() is

hypot(x, y)

where

Parameter	Description
x	A double, float, long double, or integral type value.
y	A double, float, long double, or integral type value.

Returns

The return value depends on the type of value passed for parameter x.

The return value of hypot(x) is

• double if x and y are double.
• float if x and y are float.
• long double if x and y are long double.
• Promoted datatype if x and y are of different integral datatypes.

The synopsis of hypot() function is

double hypot(double x, double y);
float hypot(float x, float y);
long double hypot(long double x, long double y);
Promoted hypot(Type1 x, Type2 y); // for combinations of other numeric types

Since C++17, hypot() can accept another value for third argument. The definition of return value remains same.

double hypot(double x, double y, double z);
float hypot(float x, float y, float z);
long double hypot(long double x, long double y, long double z);
Promoted hypot(Type1 x, Type2 y, Type3 z); // for combinations of other numeric types

sinh() is a function of cmath library. Include cmath library at the start of program, if using hypot() function.

Example

1 hypotx, y

In this example, we read two values from user into variables x and y, and compute the hypotenuse using hypot() function.

C++ Program

#include <iostream>
#include<cmath>
using namespace std;

int main() {
    double x, y;
    cout << "Enter a value (x) : ";
    cin >> x;
    cout << "Enter a value (y) : ";
    cin >> y;
    
    double result = hypot(x, y);
    cout << "hypot(" << x << ", " << y << ") : " << result << endl;
}

Output

Enter a value (x) : 3
Enter a value (y) : 4
hypot(3, 4) : 5
Program ended with exit code: 0

Enter a value (x) : 6
Enter a value (y) : 2
hypot(6, 2) : 6.32456
Program ended with exit code: 0

Conclusion

In this C++ Tutorial, we learned the syntax of C++ hypot(), and how to use this function to find the hypotenuse value when two sides are given, with the help of examples.