[Haskell-cafe] Having typing problem with "tan" function.

[Cale Gibbard]

The compiler is complaining that there's no instance of the Floating
class for Int because Floating is the class where pi and tan are
defined, and it manages to infer that halfWidth must be an Int. How
does it do this?

Well, assuming that you are using SOE or a similar graphics library,
the polygon function expects a list of Points, and type Point = (Int,
Int). So, in particular, x1 - halfWidth must be an Int, and so
halfWidth needs to be an Int.

Hence, you probably want to change the definition of halfWidth to be:
halfWidth = round (height * tan (pi / 3))

Also, just as a side note, your indentation is a little unusual. It's
more common to align the 'let' with the 'in'. This would also be an
appropriate place to use 'where'.

hope this helps,
 - Cale

On 12/10/06, Edward Ing <inge at ihitacow.com> wrote:
> Hi,
> I am new to Haskell, so the following problem is probably easy for you to spot but difficult for me.
> Any pointers would be appreciated.
> In GHCI on a load I am getting the following message:
>
> SSnowflake.hs:41:45:
>     No instance for (Floating Int)
>       arising from use of `pi' at Snowflake.hs:41:45-46
>     Probable fix: add an instance declaration for (Floating Int)
>     In the first argument of `(/)', namely `pi'
>     In the first argument of `tan', namely `(pi / 3)'
>     In the second argument of `(*)', namely `(tan (pi / 3))'
> Failed, modules loaded: none.
>
>
> When I put the expression "tan ( pi / 3)" at the GHCI interpreter prompt I get a value, but this is not accepted on a load the code.
>
>
>
> Here is the code:
> >>>> code
>
> triangle :: Window -> (Point,Point) -> Int -> IO ()
> triangle window ((x1,y1), (x2,y2)) size =
>          let    height = fromIntegral(y2 - y1) * 3 / 2
>                 halfWidth =  height  * (tan (pi / 3 )) in
>                         drawInWindow window (withColor (sizeColorMap size)
>                          (polygon [(x1,y1),( x1 - halfWidth, height ), (x1 + halfWidth, height)] ))
>
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