Related
According to this very elaborate answer I would estimate the maximum relative error δres,max of the following computation like this:
// Pseudo code
float a, b, c; // Prefilled IEEE 754 floats with double precision
res = a / b * c;
res = a * (1 + δa) / ( b * (1 + δb) ) * (1 + δa/b) * c * (1 + δc) * (1 + δa/b*c)
= a / b * c * (1 + δa) / (1 + δb) * (1 + δa/b) * (1 + δc) * (1 + δa/b*c)
= a / b * c * (1 + δres)
=> δres = (1 + δa) / (1 + δb) * (1 + δa/b) * (1 + δc) * (1 + δa/b*c) - 1
All δs are within the bounds of ± ε / 2, where ε is 2^-52.
=> δres,max = (1 + ε / 2)^4 / (1 - ε / 2) - 1 ≈ 2.5 * ε
Is this a valid approach for error estimation that can be used for every combination of basic floating-point operations?
PS:
Yes, I read "What Every Computer Scientist Should Know About Floating-Point Arithmetic". ;)
Well, it's probably a valid approach. I'm not sure how you've jockeyed that last line, but your conclusion is basically correct (though note that, since the theoretical error can exceed 2.5e, in practice the error bound is 3e).
And yes, this is a valid approach which will work for any floating-point expression of this form. However, the results won't always be as clean. Once you have addition/subtraction in the mix, rather than just multiplication and division, you won't usually be able to cleanly separate the exact expression from an error multiplier. Instead, you'll see input terms and error terms getting multiplied directly together, rather than the pleasantly relatively constant bound here.
As a useful example, try deriving the maximum relative error for (a+b)-a (assuming a and b are exact).
So I've encountered a case where I have 2 recursive calls - rather than one. I do know how to solve for one recursive call, but in this case I'm not sure whether I'm right or wrong.
I have the following problem:
T(n) = T(2n/5) + T(3n/5) + n
And I need to find the worst-case complexity for this.
(FYI - It's some kind of augmented merge sort)
My feeling was to use the first equation from the Theorem, but I feel something is wrong with my idea. Any explanation on how to solve problems like this will be appreciated :)
The recursion tree for the given recursion will look like this:
Size Cost
n n
/ \
2n/5 3n/5 n
/ \ / \
4n/25 6n/25 6n/25 9n/25 n
and so on till size of input becomes 1
The longes simple path from root to a leaf would be n-> 3/5n -> (3/5) ^2 n .. till 1
Therefore let us assume the height of tree = k
((3/5) ^ k )*n = 1 meaning k = log to the base 5/3 of n
In worst case we expect that every level gives a cost of n and hence
Total Cost = n * (log to the base 5/3 of n)
However we must keep one thing in mind that ,our tree is not complete and therefore
some levels near the bottom would be partially complete.
But in asymptotic analysis we ignore such intricate details.
Hence in worst Case Cost = n * (log to the base 5/3 of n)
which is O( n * log n )
Now, let us verify this using substitution method:
T(n) = O( n * log n) iff T(n) < = dnlog(n) for some d>0
Assuming this to be true:
T(n) = T(2n/5) + T(3n/5) + n
<= d(2n/5)log(2n/5) + d(3n/5)log(3n/5) + n
= d*2n/5(log n - log 5/2 ) + d*3n/5(log n - log 5/3) + n
= dnlog n - d(2n/5)log 5/2 - d(3n/5)log 5/3 + n
= dnlog n - dn( 2/5(log 5/2) - 3/5(log 5/3)) + n
<= dnlog n
as long as d >= 1/( 2/5(log 5/2) - 3/5(log 5/3) )
I have this recursive function:
f(n) = 2 * f(n-1) + 3 * f(n-2) + 4
f(1) = 2
f(2) = 8
I know from experience that explicit form of it would be:
f(n) = 3 ^ n - 1 // pow(3, n) - 1
I wanna know if there's any way to prove that. I googled a bit, yet didn't find anything simple to understand. I already know that generation functions probably solve it, they're too complex, I'd rather not get into them. I'm looking for a simpler way.
P.S.
If it helps I remember something like this solved it:
f(n) = 2 * f(n-1) + 3 * f(n-2) + 4
// consider f(n) = x ^ n
x ^ n = 2 * x ^ (n-1) + 3 * x ^ (n-2) + 4
And then you somehow computed x that lead to explicit form of the recursive formula, yet I can't quite remember
f(n) = 2 * f(n-1) + 3 * f(n-2) + 4
f(n+1) = 2 * f(n) + 3 * f(n-1) + 4
f(n+1)-f(n) = 2 * f(n) - 2 * f(n-1) + 3 * f(n-1) - 3 * f(n-2)
f(n+1) = 3 * f(n) + f(n-1) - 3 * f(n-2)
Now the 4 is gone.
As you said the next step is letting f(n) = x ^ n
x^(n+1) = 3 * x^n + x^(n-1) - 3 * x^(n-2)
divide by x^(n-2)
x^3 = 3 * x^2 + x - 3
x^3 - 3 * x^2 - x + 3 = 0
factorise to find x
(x-3)(x-1)(x+1) = 0
x = -1 or 1 or 3
f(n) = A * (-1)^n + B * 1^n + C * 3^n
f(n) = A * (-1)^n + B + C * 3^n
Now find A,B and C using the values you have
f(1) = 2; f(2) = 8; f(3) = 26
f(1) = 2 = -A + B + 3C
f(2) = 8 = A + B + 9C
f(3) = 26 = -A + B + 27C
solving for A,B and C:
f(3)-f(1) = 24 = 24C => C = 1
f(2)-f(1) = 6 = 2A + 6 => A = 0
2 = B + 3 => B = -1
Finally
f(n) = 3^n - 1
Ok, I know you didn't want generating functions (GF from now on) and all the complicated stuff, but my problem turned out to be nonlinear and simple linear methods didn't seem to work. So after a full day of searching, I found the answer and hopefully these findings will be of help to others.
My problem: a[n+1]= a[n]/(1+a[n]) (i.e. not linear (nor polynomial), but also not completely nonlinear - it is a rational difference equation)
if your recurrence is linear (or polynomial), wikihow has step-by-step instructions (with and without GF)
if you want to read something about GF, go to this wiki, but I didn't get it till I started doing examples (see next)
GF usage example on Fibonacci
if the previous example didn't make sense, download GF book and read the simplest GF example (section 1.1, ie a[n+1]= 2 a[n]+1, then 1.2, a[n+1]= 2 a[n]+1, then 1.3 - Fibonacci)
(while I'm on the book topic) templatetypedef mentioned Concrete Mathematics, download here, but I don't know much about it except it has a recurrence, sums, and GF chapter (among others) and a table of simple GFs on page 335
as I dove deeper for nonlinear stuff, I saw this page, using which I failed at z-transforms approach and didn't try linear algebra, but the link to rational difference eqn was the best (see next step)
so as per this page, rational functions are nice because you can transform them into polynomials and use linear methods of step 1. 3. and 4. above, which I wrote out by hand and probably made some mistake, because (see 8)
Mathematica (or even the free WolframAlpha) has a recurrence solver, which with RSolve[{a[n + 1] == a[n]/(1 + a[n]), a[1] == A}, a[n], n] got me a simple {{a[n] -> A/(1 - A + A n)}}. So I guess I'll go back and look for mistake in hand-calculations (they are good for understanding how the whole conversion process works).
Anyways, hope this helps.
In general, there is no algorithm for converting a recursive form into an iterative one. This problem is undecidable. As an example, consider this recursive function definition, which defines the Collatz sequence:
f(1) = 0
f(2n) = 1 + f(n)
f(2n + 1) = 1 + f(6n + 4)
It's not known whether or not this is even a well-defined function or not. Were an algorithm to exist that could convert this into a closed-form, we could decide whether or not it was well-defined.
However, for many common cases, it is possible to convert a recursive definition into an iterative one. The excellent textbook Concrete Mathematics spends much of its pages showing how to do this. One common technique that works quite well when you have a guess of what the answer is is to use induction. As an example for your case, suppose that you believe that your recursive definition does indeed give 3^n - 1. To prove this, try proving that it holds true for the base cases, then show that this knowledge lets you generalize the solution upward. You didn't put a base case in your post, but I'm assuming that
f(0) = 0
f(1) = 2
Given this, let's see whether your hunch is correct. For the specific inputs of 0 and 1, you can verify by inspection that the function does compute 3^n - 1. For the inductive step, let's assume that for all n' < n that f(n) = 3^n - 1. Then we have that
f(n) = 2f(n - 1) + 3f(n - 2) + 4
= 2 * (3^{n-1} - 1) + 3 * (3^{n-2} - 1) + 4
= 2 * 3^{n-1} - 2 + 3^{n-1} - 3 + 4
= 3 * 3^{n-1} - 5 + 4
= 3^n - 1
So we have just proven that this recursive function does indeed produce 3^n - 1.
I came across a situation doing some advanced collision detection, where I needed to calculate the roots of a quartic function.
I wrote a function that seems to work fine using Ferrari's general solution as seen here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartic_function#Ferrari.27s_solution.
Here's my function:
private function solveQuartic(A:Number, B:Number, C:Number, D:Number, E:Number):Array{
// For paramters: Ax^4 + Bx^3 + Cx^2 + Dx + E
var solution:Array = new Array(4);
// Using Ferrari's formula: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartic_function#Ferrari.27s_solution
var Alpha:Number = ((-3 * (B * B)) / (8 * (A * A))) + (C / A);
var Beta:Number = ((B * B * B) / (8 * A * A * A)) - ((B * C) / (2 * A * A)) + (D / A);
var Gamma:Number = ((-3 * B * B * B * B) / (256 * A * A * A * A)) + ((C * B * B) / (16 * A * A * A)) - ((B * D) / (4 * A * A)) + (E / A);
var P:Number = ((-1 * Alpha * Alpha) / 12) - Gamma;
var Q:Number = ((-1 * Alpha * Alpha * Alpha) / 108) + ((Alpha * Gamma) / 3) - ((Beta * Beta) / 8);
var PreRoot1:Number = ((Q * Q) / 4) + ((P * P * P) / 27);
var R:ComplexNumber = ComplexNumber.add(new ComplexNumber((-1 * Q) / 2), ComplexNumber.sqrt(new ComplexNumber(PreRoot1)));
var U:ComplexNumber = ComplexNumber.pow(R, 1/3);
var preY1:Number = (-5 / 6) * Alpha;
var RedundantY:ComplexNumber = ComplexNumber.add(new ComplexNumber(preY1), U);
var Y:ComplexNumber;
if(U.isZero()){
var preY2:ComplexNumber = ComplexNumber.pow(new ComplexNumber(Q), 1/3);
Y = ComplexNumber.subtract(RedundantY, preY2);
} else{
var preY3:ComplexNumber = ComplexNumber.multiply(new ComplexNumber(3), U);
var preY4:ComplexNumber = ComplexNumber.divide(new ComplexNumber(P), preY3);
Y = ComplexNumber.subtract(RedundantY, preY4);
}
var W:ComplexNumber = ComplexNumber.sqrt(ComplexNumber.add(new ComplexNumber(Alpha), ComplexNumber.multiply(new ComplexNumber(2), Y)));
var Two:ComplexNumber = new ComplexNumber(2);
var NegativeOne:ComplexNumber = new ComplexNumber(-1);
var NegativeBOverFourA:ComplexNumber = new ComplexNumber((-1 * B) / (4 * A));
var NegativeW:ComplexNumber = ComplexNumber.multiply(W, NegativeOne);
var ThreeAlphaPlusTwoY:ComplexNumber = ComplexNumber.add(new ComplexNumber(3 * Alpha), ComplexNumber.multiply(new ComplexNumber(2), Y));
var TwoBetaOverW:ComplexNumber = ComplexNumber.divide(new ComplexNumber(2 * Beta), W);
solution["root1"] = ComplexNumber.add(NegativeBOverFourA, ComplexNumber.divide(ComplexNumber.add(W, ComplexNumber.sqrt(ComplexNumber.multiply(NegativeOne, ComplexNumber.add(ThreeAlphaPlusTwoY, TwoBetaOverW)))), Two));
solution["root2"] = ComplexNumber.add(NegativeBOverFourA, ComplexNumber.divide(ComplexNumber.subtract(NegativeW, ComplexNumber.sqrt(ComplexNumber.multiply(NegativeOne, ComplexNumber.subtract(ThreeAlphaPlusTwoY, TwoBetaOverW)))), Two));
solution["root3"] = ComplexNumber.add(NegativeBOverFourA, ComplexNumber.divide(ComplexNumber.subtract(W, ComplexNumber.sqrt(ComplexNumber.multiply(NegativeOne, ComplexNumber.add(ThreeAlphaPlusTwoY, TwoBetaOverW)))), Two));
solution["root4"] = ComplexNumber.add(NegativeBOverFourA, ComplexNumber.divide(ComplexNumber.add(NegativeW, ComplexNumber.sqrt(ComplexNumber.multiply(NegativeOne, ComplexNumber.subtract(ThreeAlphaPlusTwoY, TwoBetaOverW)))), Two));
return solution;
}
The only issue is that I seem to get a few exceptions. Most notably when I have two real roots, and two imaginary roots.
For example, this equation:
y = 0.9604000000000001x^4 - 5.997600000000001x^3 + 13.951750054511718x^2 - 14.326264455924333x + 5.474214401412618
Returns the roots:
1.7820304835380467 + 0i
1.34041662585388 + 0i
1.3404185025061823 + 0i
1.7820323472855648 + 0i
If I graph that particular equation, I can see that the actual roots are closer to 1.2 and 2.9 (approximately). I can't dismiss the four incorrect roots as random, because they're actually two of the roots for the equation's first derivative:
y = 3.8416x^3 - 17.9928x^2 + 27.9035001x - 14.326264455924333
Keep in mind that I'm not actually looking for the specific roots to the equation I posted. My question is whether there's some sort of special case that I'm not taking into consideration.
Any ideas?
For finding roots of polynomials of degree >= 3, I've always had better results using Jenkins-Traub ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenkins-Traub_algorithm ) than explicit formulas.
I do not know why Ferrari's solution does not work, but I tried to use the standard numerical method (create a companion matrix and compute its eigenvalues), and I obtain the correct solution, i.e., two real roots at 1.2 and 1.9.
This method is not for the faint of heart. After constructing the companion matrix of the polynomial, you run the QR algorithm to find the eigenvalues of that matrix. Those are the zeroes of the polynomial.
I suggest you to use an existing implementation of the QR algorithm since a good deal of it is closer to kitchen recipe than algorithmics. But it is, I believe, the most widely used algorithm to compute eigenvalues, and thereby, roots of polynomials.
You can see my answer to a related question. I support the view of Olivier: the way to go may just be the companion matrix / eigenvalue approach (very stable, simple, reliable, and fast).
Edit
I guess it does not hurt if I reproduce the answer here, for convenience:
The numerical solution for doing this many times in a reliable, stable manner, involve: (1) Form the companion matrix, (2) find the eigenvalues of the companion matrix.
You may think this is a harder problem to solve than the original one, but this is how the solution is implemented in most production code (say, Matlab).
For the polynomial:
p(t) = c0 + c1 * t + c2 * t^2 + t^3
the companion matrix is:
[[0 0 -c0],[1 0 -c1],[0 1 -c2]]
Find the eigenvalues of such matrix; they correspond to the roots of the original polynomial.
For doing this very fast, download the singular value subroutines from LAPACK, compile them, and link them to your code. Do this in parallel if you have too many (say, about a million) sets of coefficients. You could use QR decomposition, or any other stable methodology for computing eigenvalues (see the Wikipedia entry on "matrix eigenvalues").
Notice that the coefficient of t^3 is one, if this is not the case in your polynomials, you will have to divide the whole thing by the coefficient and then proceed.
Good luck.
Edit: Numpy and octave also depend on this methodology for computing the roots of polynomials. See, for instance, this link.
The other answers are good and sound advice. However, recalling my experience with the implementation of Ferrari's method in Forth, I think your wrong results are probably caused by 1. wrong implementation of the necessary and rather tricky sign combinations, 2. not realizing yet that ".. == beta" in floating-point should become "abs(.. - beta) < eps, 3. not yet having found out that there are other square roots in the code that may return complex solutions.
For this particular problem my Forth code in diagnostic mode returns:
x1 = 1.5612244897959360787072371026316680470492e+0000 -1.6542769593216835969789894020584464029664e-0001 i
--> -4.2123274051525879873007970023884313331788e-0054 3.4544674220377778501545407451201598284464e-0077 i
x2 = 1.5612244897959360787072371026316680470492e+0000 1.6542769593216835969789894020584464029664e-0001 i
--> -4.2123274051525879873007970023884313331788e-0054 -3.4544674220377778501545407451201598284464e-0077 i
x3 = 1.2078440724224197532447709413299479764843e+0000 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000e-0001 i
--> -4.2123274051525879873010733597821943554068e-0054 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000e-0001 i
x4 = 1.9146049071693819497220585618954851525216e+0000 -0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000e-0001 i
--> -4.2123274051525879873013497171759573776348e-0054 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000e-0001 i
The text after "-->" follows from backsubstituting the root into the original equation.
For reference, here are Mathematica/Alpha's results to the highest possible precision I managed to set it:
Mathematica:
x1 = 1.20784407242
x2 = 1.91460490717
x3 = 1.56122449 - 0.16542770 i
x4 = 1.56122449 + 0.16542770 i
A good alternative to the methods already mentioned is the TOMS Algorithm 326, which is based on the paper "Roots of Low Order Polynomials" by Terence R.F.Nonweiler CACM (Apr 1968).
This is an algebraic solution to 3rd and 4th order polynomials that is reasonably compact, fast, and quite accurate. It is much simpler than Jenkins Traub.
Be warned however that the TOMS code doesn't work all that well.
This Iowa Hills Root Solver page has code for a Quartic / Cubic root finder that is a bit more refined. It also has a Jenkins Traub type root finder.
Okay, this all takes place in a nice and simple 2D world... :)
Suppose I have a static object A at position Apos, and a linearly moving object B at Bpos with bVelocity, and an ammo round with velocity Avelocity...
How would I find out the angle that A has to shoot, to hit B, taking into account B's linear velocity and the speed of A's ammo ?
Right now the aim's at the current position of the object, which means that by the time my projectile gets there the unit has moved on to safer positions :)
I wrote an aiming subroutine for xtank a while back. I'll try to lay out how I did it.
Disclaimer: I may have made one or more silly mistakes anywhere in here; I'm just trying to reconstruct the reasoning with my rusty math skills. However, I'll cut to the chase first, since this is a programming Q&A instead of a math class :-)
How to do it
It boils down to solving a quadratic equation of the form:
a * sqr(x) + b * x + c == 0
Note that by sqr I mean square, as opposed to square root. Use the following values:
a := sqr(target.velocityX) + sqr(target.velocityY) - sqr(projectile_speed)
b := 2 * (target.velocityX * (target.startX - cannon.X)
+ target.velocityY * (target.startY - cannon.Y))
c := sqr(target.startX - cannon.X) + sqr(target.startY - cannon.Y)
Now we can look at the discriminant to determine if we have a possible solution.
disc := sqr(b) - 4 * a * c
If the discriminant is less than 0, forget about hitting your target -- your projectile can never get there in time. Otherwise, look at two candidate solutions:
t1 := (-b + sqrt(disc)) / (2 * a)
t2 := (-b - sqrt(disc)) / (2 * a)
Note that if disc == 0 then t1 and t2 are equal.
If there are no other considerations such as intervening obstacles, simply choose the smaller positive value. (Negative t values would require firing backward in time to use!)
Substitute the chosen t value back into the target's position equations to get the coordinates of the leading point you should be aiming at:
aim.X := t * target.velocityX + target.startX
aim.Y := t * target.velocityY + target.startY
Derivation
At time T, the projectile must be a (Euclidean) distance from the cannon equal to the elapsed time multiplied by the projectile speed. This gives an equation for a circle, parametric in elapsed time.
sqr(projectile.X - cannon.X) + sqr(projectile.Y - cannon.Y)
== sqr(t * projectile_speed)
Similarly, at time T, the target has moved along its vector by time multiplied by its velocity:
target.X == t * target.velocityX + target.startX
target.Y == t * target.velocityY + target.startY
The projectile can hit the target when its distance from the cannon matches the projectile's distance.
sqr(projectile.X - cannon.X) + sqr(projectile.Y - cannon.Y)
== sqr(target.X - cannon.X) + sqr(target.Y - cannon.Y)
Wonderful! Substituting the expressions for target.X and target.Y gives
sqr(projectile.X - cannon.X) + sqr(projectile.Y - cannon.Y)
== sqr((t * target.velocityX + target.startX) - cannon.X)
+ sqr((t * target.velocityY + target.startY) - cannon.Y)
Substituting the other side of the equation gives this:
sqr(t * projectile_speed)
== sqr((t * target.velocityX + target.startX) - cannon.X)
+ sqr((t * target.velocityY + target.startY) - cannon.Y)
... subtracting sqr(t * projectile_speed) from both sides and flipping it around:
sqr((t * target.velocityX) + (target.startX - cannon.X))
+ sqr((t * target.velocityY) + (target.startY - cannon.Y))
- sqr(t * projectile_speed)
== 0
... now resolve the results of squaring the subexpressions ...
sqr(target.velocityX) * sqr(t)
+ 2 * t * target.velocityX * (target.startX - cannon.X)
+ sqr(target.startX - cannon.X)
+ sqr(target.velocityY) * sqr(t)
+ 2 * t * target.velocityY * (target.startY - cannon.Y)
+ sqr(target.startY - cannon.Y)
- sqr(projectile_speed) * sqr(t)
== 0
... and group similar terms ...
sqr(target.velocityX) * sqr(t)
+ sqr(target.velocityY) * sqr(t)
- sqr(projectile_speed) * sqr(t)
+ 2 * t * target.velocityX * (target.startX - cannon.X)
+ 2 * t * target.velocityY * (target.startY - cannon.Y)
+ sqr(target.startX - cannon.X)
+ sqr(target.startY - cannon.Y)
== 0
... then combine them ...
(sqr(target.velocityX) + sqr(target.velocityY) - sqr(projectile_speed)) * sqr(t)
+ 2 * (target.velocityX * (target.startX - cannon.X)
+ target.velocityY * (target.startY - cannon.Y)) * t
+ sqr(target.startX - cannon.X) + sqr(target.startY - cannon.Y)
== 0
... giving a standard quadratic equation in t. Finding the positive real zeros of this equation gives the (zero, one, or two) possible hit locations, which can be done with the quadratic formula:
a * sqr(x) + b * x + c == 0
x == (-b ± sqrt(sqr(b) - 4 * a * c)) / (2 * a)
+1 on Jeffrey Hantin's excellent answer here. I googled around and found solutions that were either too complex or not specifically about the case I was interested in (simple constant velocity projectile in 2D space.) His was exactly what I needed to produce the self-contained JavaScript solution below.
The one point I would add is that there are a couple special cases you have to watch for in addition to the discriminant being negative:
"a == 0": occurs if target and projectile are traveling the same speed. (solution is linear, not quadratic)
"a == 0 and b == 0": if both target and projectile are stationary. (no solution unless c == 0, i.e. src & dst are same point.)
Code:
/**
* Return the firing solution for a projectile starting at 'src' with
* velocity 'v', to hit a target, 'dst'.
*
* #param ({x, y}) src position of shooter
* #param ({x, y, vx, vy}) dst position & velocity of target
* #param (Number) v speed of projectile
*
* #return ({x, y}) Coordinate at which to fire (and where intercept occurs). Or `null` if target cannot be hit.
*/
function intercept(src, dst, v) {
const tx = dst.x - src.x;
const ty = dst.y - src.y;
const tvx = dst.vx;
const tvy = dst.vy;
// Get quadratic equation components
const a = tvx * tvx + tvy * tvy - v * v;
const b = 2 * (tvx * tx + tvy * ty);
const c = tx * tx + ty * ty;
// Solve quadratic
const ts = quad(a, b, c); // See quad(), below
// Find smallest positive solution
let sol = null;
if (ts) {
const t0 = ts[0];
const t1 = ts[1];
let t = Math.min(t0, t1);
if (t < 0) t = Math.max(t0, t1);
if (t > 0) {
sol = {
x: dst.x + dst.vx * t,
y: dst.y + dst.vy * t
};
}
}
return sol;
}
/**
* Return solutions for quadratic
*/
function quad(a, b, c) {
let sol = null;
if (Math.abs(a) < 1e-6) {
if (Math.abs(b) < 1e-6) {
sol = Math.abs(c) < 1e-6 ? [0, 0] : null;
} else {
sol = [-c / b, -c / b];
}
} else {
let disc = b * b - 4 * a * c;
if (disc >= 0) {
disc = Math.sqrt(disc);
a = 2 * a;
sol = [(-b - disc) / a, (-b + disc) / a];
}
}
return sol;
}
// For example ...
const sol = intercept(
{x:2, y:4}, // Starting coord
{x:5, y:7, vx: 2, vy:1}, // Target coord and velocity
5 // Projectile velocity
)
console.log('Fire at', sol)
First rotate the axes so that AB is vertical (by doing a rotation)
Now, split the velocity vector of B into the x and y components (say Bx and By). You can use this to calculate the x and y components of the vector you need to shoot at.
B --> Bx
|
|
V
By
Vy
^
|
|
A ---> Vx
You need Vx = Bx and Sqrt(Vx*Vx + Vy*Vy) = Velocity of Ammo.
This should give you the vector you need in the new system. Transform back to old system and you are done (by doing a rotation in the other direction).
Jeffrey Hantin has a nice solution for this problem, though his derivation is overly complicated. Here's a cleaner way of deriving it with some of the resultant code at the bottom.
I'll be using x.y to represent vector dot product, and if a vector quantity is squared, it means I am dotting it with itself.
origpos = initial position of shooter
origvel = initial velocity of shooter
targpos = initial position of target
targvel = initial velocity of target
projvel = velocity of the projectile relative to the origin (cause ur shooting from there)
speed = the magnitude of projvel
t = time
We know that the position of the projectile and target with respect to t time can be described with some equations.
curprojpos(t) = origpos + t*origvel + t*projvel
curtargpos(t) = targpos + t*targvel
We want these to be equal to each other at some point (the point of intersection), so let's set them equal to each other and solve for the free variable, projvel.
origpos + t*origvel + t*projvel = targpos + t*targvel
turns into ->
projvel = (targpos - origpos)/t + targvel - origvel
Let's forget about the notion of origin and target position/velocity. Instead, let's work in relative terms since motion of one thing is relative to another. In this case, what we now have is relpos = targetpos - originpos and relvel = targetvel - originvel
projvel = relpos/t + relvel
We don't know what projvel is, but we do know that we want projvel.projvel to be equal to speed^2, so we'll square both sides and we get
projvel^2 = (relpos/t + relvel)^2
expands into ->
speed^2 = relvel.relvel + 2*relpos.relvel/t + relpos.relpos/t^2
We can now see that the only free variable is time, t, and then we'll use t to solve for projvel. We'll solve for t with the quadratic formula. First separate it out into a, b and c, then solve for the roots.
Before solving, though, remember that we want the best solution where t is smallest, but we need to make sure that t is not negative (you can't hit something in the past)
a = relvel.relvel - speed^2
b = 2*relpos.relvel
c = relpos.relpos
h = -b/(2*a)
k2 = h*h - c/a
if k2 < 0, then there are no roots and there is no solution
if k2 = 0, then there is one root at h
if 0 < h then t = h
else, no solution
if k2 > 0, then there are two roots at h - k and h + k, we also know r0 is less than r1.
k = sqrt(k2)
r0 = h - k
r1 = h + k
we have the roots, we must now solve for the smallest positive one
if 0<r0 then t = r0
elseif 0<r1 then t = r1
else, no solution
Now, if we have a t value, we can plug t back into the original equation and solve for the projvel
projvel = relpos/t + relvel
Now, to the shoot the projectile, the resultant global position and velocity for the projectile is
globalpos = origpos
globalvel = origvel + projvel
And you're done!
My implementation of my solution in Lua, where vec*vec represents vector dot product:
local function lineartrajectory(origpos,origvel,speed,targpos,targvel)
local relpos=targpos-origpos
local relvel=targvel-origvel
local a=relvel*relvel-speed*speed
local b=2*relpos*relvel
local c=relpos*relpos
if a*a<1e-32 then--code translation for a==0
if b*b<1e-32 then
return false,"no solution"
else
local h=-c/b
if 0<h then
return origpos,relpos/h+targvel,h
else
return false,"no solution"
end
end
else
local h=-b/(2*a)
local k2=h*h-c/a
if k2<-1e-16 then
return false,"no solution"
elseif k2<1e-16 then--code translation for k2==0
if 0<h then
return origpos,relpos/h+targvel,h
else
return false,"no solution"
end
else
local k=k2^0.5
if k<h then
return origpos,relpos/(h-k)+targvel,h-k
elseif -k<h then
return origpos,relpos/(h+k)+targvel,h+k
else
return false,"no solution"
end
end
end
end
Following is polar coordinate based aiming code in C++.
To use with rectangular coordinates you would need to first convert the targets relative coordinate to angle/distance, and the targets x/y velocity to angle/speed.
The "speed" input is the speed of the projectile. The units of the speed and targetSpeed are irrelevent, as only the ratio of the speeds are used in the calculation. The output is the angle the projectile should be fired at and the distance to the collision point.
The algorithm is from source code available at http://www.turtlewar.org/ .
// C++
static const double pi = 3.14159265358979323846;
inline double Sin(double a) { return sin(a*(pi/180)); }
inline double Asin(double y) { return asin(y)*(180/pi); }
bool/*ok*/ Rendezvous(double speed,double targetAngle,double targetRange,
double targetDirection,double targetSpeed,double* courseAngle,
double* courseRange)
{
// Use trig to calculate coordinate of future collision with target.
// c
//
// B A
//
// a C b
//
// Known:
// C = distance to target
// b = direction of target travel, relative to it's coordinate
// A/B = ratio of speed and target speed
//
// Use rule of sines to find unknowns.
// sin(a)/A = sin(b)/B = sin(c)/C
//
// a = asin((A/B)*sin(b))
// c = 180-a-b
// B = C*(sin(b)/sin(c))
bool ok = 0;
double b = 180-(targetDirection-targetAngle);
double A_div_B = targetSpeed/speed;
double C = targetRange;
double sin_b = Sin(b);
double sin_a = A_div_B*sin_b;
// If sin of a is greater than one it means a triangle cannot be
// constructed with the given angles that have sides with the given
// ratio.
if(fabs(sin_a) <= 1)
{
double a = Asin(sin_a);
double c = 180-a-b;
double sin_c = Sin(c);
double B;
if(fabs(sin_c) > .0001)
{
B = C*(sin_b/sin_c);
}
else
{
// Sin of small angles approach zero causing overflow in
// calculation. For nearly flat triangles just treat as
// flat.
B = C/(A_div_B+1);
}
// double A = C*(sin_a/sin_c);
ok = 1;
*courseAngle = targetAngle+a;
*courseRange = B;
}
return ok;
}
Here's an example where I devised and implemented a solution to the problem of predictive targeting using a recursive algorithm: http://www.newarteest.com/flash/targeting.html
I'll have to try out some of the other solutions presented because it seems more efficient to calculate it in one step, but the solution I came up with was to estimate the target position and feed that result back into the algorithm to make a new more accurate estimate, repeating several times.
For the first estimate I "fire" at the target's current position and then use trigonometry to determine where the target will be when the shot reaches the position fired at. Then in the next iteration I "fire" at that new position and determine where the target will be this time. After about 4 repeats I get within a pixel of accuracy.
I just hacked this version for aiming in 2d space, I didn't test it very thoroughly yet but it seems to work. The idea behind it is this:
Create a vector perpendicular to the vector pointing from the muzzle to the target.
For a collision to occur, the velocities of the target and the projectile along this vector (axis) should be the same!
Using fairly simple cosine stuff I arrived at this code:
private Vector3 CalculateProjectileDirection(Vector3 a_MuzzlePosition, float a_ProjectileSpeed, Vector3 a_TargetPosition, Vector3 a_TargetVelocity)
{
// make sure it's all in the horizontal plane:
a_TargetPosition.y = 0.0f;
a_MuzzlePosition.y = 0.0f;
a_TargetVelocity.y = 0.0f;
// create a normalized vector that is perpendicular to the vector pointing from the muzzle to the target's current position (a localized x-axis):
Vector3 perpendicularVector = Vector3.Cross(a_TargetPosition - a_MuzzlePosition, -Vector3.up).normalized;
// project the target's velocity vector onto that localized x-axis:
Vector3 projectedTargetVelocity = Vector3.Project(a_TargetVelocity, perpendicularVector);
// calculate the angle that the projectile velocity should make with the localized x-axis using the consine:
float angle = Mathf.Acos(projectedTargetVelocity.magnitude / a_ProjectileSpeed) / Mathf.PI * 180;
if (Vector3.Angle(perpendicularVector, a_TargetVelocity) > 90.0f)
{
angle = 180.0f - angle;
}
// rotate the x-axis so that is points in the desired velocity direction of the projectile:
Vector3 returnValue = Quaternion.AngleAxis(angle, -Vector3.up) * perpendicularVector;
// give the projectile the correct speed:
returnValue *= a_ProjectileSpeed;
return returnValue;
}
I made a public domain Unity C# function here:
http://ringofblades.com/Blades/Code/PredictiveAim.cs
It is for 3D, but you can easily modify this for 2D by replacing the Vector3s with Vector2s and using your down axis of choice for gravity if there is gravity.
In case the theory interests you, I walk through the derivation of the math here:
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/KainShin/20090515/83954/Predictive_Aim_Mathematics_for_AI_Targeting.php
I've seen many ways to solve this problem mathematically, but this was a component relevant to a project my class was required to do in high school, and not everyone in this programming class had a background with calculus, or even vectors for that matter, so I created a way to solve this problem with more of a programming approach. The point of intersection will be accurate, although it may hit 1 frame later than in the mathematical computations.
Consider:
S = shooterPos, E = enemyPos, T = targetPos, Sr = shooter range, D = enemyDir
V = distance from E to T, P = projectile speed, Es = enemy speed
In the standard implementation of this problem [S,E,P,Es,D] are all givens and you are solving either to find T or the angle at which to shoot so that you hit T at the proper timing.
The main aspect of this method of solving the problem is to consider the range of the shooter as a circle encompassing all possible points that can be shot at any given time. The radius of this circle is equal to:
Sr = P*time
Where time is calculated as an iteration of a loop.
Thus to find the distance an enemy travels given the time iteration we create the vector:
V = D*Es*time
Now, to actually solve the problem we want to find a point at which the distance from the target (T) to our shooter (S) is less than the range of our shooter (Sr). Here is somewhat of a pseudocode implementation of this equation.
iteration = 0;
while(TargetPoint.hasNotPassedShooter)
{
TargetPoint = EnemyPos + (EnemyMovementVector)
if(distanceFrom(TargetPoint,ShooterPos) < (ShooterRange))
return TargetPoint;
iteration++
}
Basically , intersection concept is not really needed here, As far as you are using projectile motion, you just need to hit at a particular angle and instantiate at the time of shooting so that you get the exact distance of your target from the Source and then once you have the distance, you can calculate the appropriate velocity with which it should shot in order to hit the Target.
The following link makes teh concept clear and is considered helpful, might help:
Projectile motion to always hit a moving target
I grabbed one of the solutions from here, but none of them take into account movement of the shooter. If your shooter is moving, you might want to take that into account (as the shooter's velocity should be added to your bullet's velocity when you fire). Really all you need to do is subtract your shooter's velocity from the target's velocity. So if you're using broofa's code above (which I would recommend), change the lines
tvx = dst.vx;
tvy = dst.vy;
to
tvx = dst.vx - shooter.vx;
tvy = dst.vy - shooter.vy;
and you should be all set.