Formulas

A formula uses numbers, variables, operators and keywords to create a new value.  The value is assigned to a variable.  The formula may look like an equation, but it is an assignment statement.

Profit = Income - Expenses

Profit is the variable which gets the result assigned to it.

The formula is Income - Expenses.  The minus sign is the Operator.

Operators are used to create a new value which is assigned to a variable.  The equal sign is used, but it really means assign the result to this.

Shortcut statements, like those introduced in C+ are new in VB 2005.  These are a little harder to comprehend intuitively when you read the program, but you can get used to it.

Here is a partial list of the math methods in the System.Math class, which is a library provided by the Microsoft .Net Framework that taps into the Windows operating system.

ABS(n)            returns absolute value of n

Atan(n)            returns arctangent, in radians, of n

Cos(n)             returns cosine of the angle n, in radians

Exp(n)             returns the constant e raised to the power of n

Sign (n)           returns -1 if n is negative, 0 if n is zero, and +1 if n is positive

Sin(n)              returns the sine of the angle n, in radians

Sqrt(n)             returns the square root of n

Tan(n)             returns the tangent of angle n, in radians

To use these, you must have the following statement at the very top of the form’s code.

 Imports System.Math