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    Incorrect SketchUp Calculations of XY Coordinates?

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    • D Offline
      descoteaux
      last edited by

      Are you sure SketchUp is correct? Maybe I'm misunderstanding how it works.

      SketchUp calculates:

      1080cos(0(pi()/180)) = 1080 (correct)
      1080cos(180(pi()/180)) = 1078.377 (incorrect?)

      Shouldn't 180 degrees mean it's -1080? 180 degrees is opposite of 0 on the circle. Also I used the RADIANS() function because it looks cleaner. Thanks for your help.

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      • jeff hammondJ Offline
        jeff hammond
        last edited by

        @descoteaux said:

        Are you sure SketchUp is correct? Maybe I'm misunderstanding how it works.

        SketchUp calculates:

        1080cos(0(pi()/180)) = 1080 (correct)
        1080cos(180(pi()/180)) = 1078.377 (incorrect?)

        Shouldn't 180 degrees mean it's -1080? 180 degrees is opposite of 0 on the circle. Thanks for your help.

        1080cos(100(pi/180))

        -- pi/180 = .017
        -- .017 * 100 = 1.7
        -- cos 1.7 = .999
        -- 1080 * .999 = 1079

        basically, it's going to work from the innermost parenthesis outward…

        5* (20*(10/5))

        would be 10 divided by 5 first (2)
        then 2 * 20 (40)
        then 5 * 40 =200

        (not going to the appropriate decimals etc in that example)

        edit--

        1080cos([b]0(pi()/180)) = 1080 (correct)
        1080cos(180(pi()/180)) = 1078.377 (incorrect?)[/b]

        in the first example, you're just doing 1080 * cos0 ….cos 0 = 1 so that one is obvious

        the second example is pi or 3.14 / 180 = 0.17 which is then multiplied by 180 …so you just arrive at pi again..

        cos (PI) = .998 which when multiplied by 1080 gives you 1078.38…

        you following?

        point is, i think you have the wrong formula for what you want to happen.. but we don't know what you want to happen so it's hard to give a solution 😉

        dotdotdot

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        • D Offline
          descoteaux
          last edited by

          @unknownuser said:

          1080cos(100(pi/180))

          -- pi/180 = .017
          -- .017 * 100 = 1.7
          -- cos 1.7 = .999
          -- 1080 * .999 = 1079

          basically, it's going to work from the innermost parenthesis outward…

          5* (20*(10/5))

          would be 10 divided by 5 first (2)
          then 2 * 20 (40)
          then 5 * 40 =200

          (not going to the appropriate decimals etc in that example)

          -- cos 1.7 = .999

          How did you calculate this? I believe it's -.0128844. EDIT: and cos(pi) = -1

          EDIT2: I'm mostly trying to prove that SketchUp is wrong and I'm wondering why.

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          • jeff hammondJ Offline
            jeff hammond
            last edited by

            @descoteaux said:

            -- cos 1.7 = .999

            How did you calculate this? I believe it's -.0128844. EDIT: and cos(pi) = -1

            i'm working in DEGrees.. not RADians
            so is sketchup

            dotdotdot

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            • jeff hammondJ Offline
              jeff hammond
              last edited by

              you might of seen this already but just in case:

              http://support.google.com/sketchup/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=115752#

              dc trig functions

              EDIT --hmm … some of that documentation is apparently wrong.. for instance:
              The SIN function returns the sine of the number in radians.

              SIN returns in degrees, not radians.. ❓

              if you click on the functions tab in the DC attributes panel then select SIN, it will describe the proper usage with sketchup..

              dotdotdot

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              • D Offline
                descoteaux
                last edited by

                Thanks a lot for your help and patience.

                If SketchUp returns cos() in degrees, shouldn't cos(pi()) = -57.2957795?

                EDIT:
                These are the calculators I'm comparing SketchUp against.

                http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=cos%28pi%29+in+degrees

                https://www.google.com/#hl=en&safe=off&sclient=psy-ab&q=cos%28pi%29+in+degrees&oq=cos%28pi%29+in+degrees&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_nf=1&gs_l=hp.3...303786.303786.1.304489.1.1.0.0.0.0.100.100.0j1.1.0.tB44GhnwbxM&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=658b538c23bb4e18

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                • jeff hammondJ Offline
                  jeff hammond
                  last edited by

                  edit.. deleted mistake 😉

                  dotdotdot

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                  • jeff hammondJ Offline
                    jeff hammond
                    last edited by

                    @descoteaux said:

                    Thanks a lot for your help and patience.

                    If SketchUp returns cos() in degrees, shouldn't cos(pi()) = -57.2957795?

                    EDIT:
                    These are the calculators I'm comparing SketchUp against.

                    http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=cos%28pi%29+in+degrees

                    https://www.google.com/#hl=en&safe=off&sclient=psy-ab&q=cos%28pi%29+in+degrees&oq=cos%28pi%29+in+degrees&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_nf=1&gs_l=hp.3...303786.303786.1.304489.1.1.0.0.0.0.100.100.0j1.1.0.tB44GhnwbxM&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=658b538c23bb4e18

                    if you enter cos(pi) in degrees into google, it will give you -57.2957795 degrees

                    what that's doing however is getting the cos(pi) in radians which is -1… then it's taking -1 and converting it to degrees…
                    (fwiw, 1 Radian = 57.29º)

                    that's not working in degrees.. to use, say, google calculator to get the same result as sketchup will give, you'd have to enter it as:

                    cos (pi degrees)

                    that will tell the calculator you'll be working in degrees.. the same way sketchup sees it by default

                    dotdotdot

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                    • D Offline
                      descoteaux
                      last edited by

                      You finally got it through to me. Sorry for being so slow. It's extremely confusing having SketchUp calculate differently from other calculator defaults, not to mention it says nothing about calculating in degrees within the Component Attributes window. It's good to know nothing is actually broken with SketchUp though. I built my equation outside SketchUp so now I'll rebuild it inside.

                      Thanks a bunch for this conversation.

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                      • jeff hammondJ Offline
                        jeff hammond
                        last edited by

                        @descoteaux said:

                        It's extremely confusing having SketchUp calculate differently from other calculator defaults, not to mention it says nothing about calculating in degrees within the Component Attributes window. It's good to know nothing is actually broken with SketchUp though. I built my equation outside SketchUp so now I'll rebuild it inside.

                        i imagine the DC developers faced the decision of radians vs degrees at some point.. (make it like every other spreadsheet out there or use degrees by default)

                        personally, i'm glad they went with degrees (and i also wish i could switch my spreadsheet app (Numbers) to degrees)

                        the reason being is that while radians are certainly better for creating simpler equations, they aren't very practical in real world use..
                        meaning-- any decent carpenter will know a 12:12 roof is 45º but i highly doubt a single one of them will know it's 0.785radians 😉

                        so while radians may make better formulas, degrees are much more easy to visualize and communicate with..

                        also, with my spreadsheets, i always wish for a 'carpenter mode' which would allow not only degrees by default, but also the ability to enter feet&inches (ala sketchup) as opposed to something like .3021 for 3 5/8"… so in this regard, i think using degrees alongside other architectural notation just makes sense..

                        one other point as to why sketchup might use degrees by default is that the tools such as rotate and protractor are in degrees as well..
                        (and imagine if those 2 tools were in radians instead… that would more likely than not cause an uproar 😉 )

                        @unknownuser said:

                        Thanks a bunch for this conversation.

                        no problem 😄

                        dotdotdot

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                        • D Offline
                          descoteaux
                          last edited by

                          Your points are very fair and make sense, but man was it frustrating to figure out the hard way. 😳

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