# What's the difference between pow and sqrt in this code?

I'm not the best at Arduino so I'm sorry for my "noobiness".

I'm extending some code that I found online to work on the gyroscope that I'm building.

I'm wondering what the difference is between pow and sqrt in this code.

I'm also wondering what the 180/pi is used for. I haven't gotten my mind around this part yet.

arx = (180/3.141592) * atan(ax / pow((ay, 2) + pow(az, 2));


What's the difference here?

ary = (180/3.141592) * atan(ay / sqrt(square(ax, 2) + square(az, 2)));

• pow(x, 2)  is the second power, so x² or x*x. sqrt(x) is the square root of x, so $\sqrt x$. A whole circle is 360 degrees or 2π when measuring in radians. So this ratio of 180/3.141592 is used to convert an angle in radians to an angle in degrees. Oct 19 '15 at 12:16
• @Gerben That should be an answer, n'est pas? Oct 19 '15 at 16:13
• @Gerben Do you know why im getting this error? In function 'void loop()': error: too few arguments to function 'double pow(double, double)' GettingValues:41: error: at this point in file error: too many arguments to function 'double square(double)' GettingValues:42: error: at this point in file error: too many arguments to function 'double square(double)'
– Marc
Oct 20 '15 at 7:40
• Your parentheses are wrong. Change pow(( to pow(. Oct 20 '15 at 8:35

A whole circle is 360 degrees or 2π when measuring in radians. So this ratio of 180 / 3.141592 is used to convert an angle in radians to an angle in degrees.