Organization of the Documentation

This manual contains a concise description of each routine, with at least one demonstrated example of each routine, including sample input and results. You will find all information pertaining to the MATH/LIBRARY in this manual. Moreover, all information pertaining to a particular routine is in one place within a chapter.

Each chapter begins with an introduction followed by a table of contents that lists the routines included in the chapter. Documentation of the routines consists of the following information:

  • IMSL Routine’s Generic Name

  • Purpose: a statement of the purpose of the routine. If the routine is a function rather than a subroutine the purpose statement will reflect this fact.

  • Function Return Value: a description of the return value (for functions only).

  • Required Arguments: a description of the required arguments in the order of their occurrence. Input arguments usually occur first, followed by input/output arguments, with output arguments described last. Futhermore, the following terms apply to arguments:

    • Input Argument must be initialized; it is not changed by the routine.

    • Input/Output Argument must be initialized; the routine returns output through this argument; cannot be a constant or an expression.

    • Input[/Output] Argument must be initialized; the routine may return output through this argument based on other optional data the user may choose to pass to this routine; cannot be a constant or an expression.

    • Input or Output Select appropriate option to define the argument as either input or output. See individual routines for further instructions.

    • Output No initialization is necessary; cannot be a constant or an expression. The routine returns output through this argument.

  • Optional Arguments: a description of the optional arguments in the order of their occurrence.

  • Fortran 90 Interface: a section that describes the generic and specific interfaces to the routine.

  • Fortran 77 Style Interface: an optional section, which describes Fortran 77 style interfaces, is supplied for backwards compatibility with previous versions of the Library.

  • ScaLAPACK Interface: an optional section, which describes an interface to a ScaLAPACK‑based version of this routine.

  • Description: a description of the algorithm and references to detailed information. In many cases, other IMSL routines with similar or complementary functions are noted.

  • Comments: details pertaining to code usage.

  • Programming notes: an optional section that contains programming details not covered elsewhere.

  • Example: at least one application of this routine showing input and required dimension and type statements.

  • Output: results from the example(s).

    Note: Unique solutions may differ from platform to platform.

  • Additional Examples: an optional section with additional applications of this routine showing input and required dimension and type statements.