my post got deleted so I will say this instead
please stop saying “use a sprite/clone” as a workaround
the trig function is more reliable than the sprite one

gdfsgdfsgdfg wrote:

my post got deleted so I will say this instead
please stop saying “use a sprite/clone” as a workaround
the trig function is more reliable than the sprite one

What is a trig function

trig is short for trigonometry, a math subject about triangles and measurement

a trig function takes an input value (e.g., an angle) and gives an output value (e.g., a side length divided by another side length) from a triangle

in scratch the trig functions are

([sin v] of ()::operators) // = opposite side / hypotenuse
([cos v] of ()::operators) // = adjacent side / hypotenuse
([tan v] of ()::operators) // = opposite side / adjacent side

and their inverses with “a” in front of the name

more explanation can be found here

an example of a trigonometric function used to do point towards can be found here

trigonometric “point towards”

This method uses the trigonometry function “atan” to calculate the direction between your current position and the target with math.

define point towards x: (target x) y: (target y)
point in direction ([atan v] of (((target x) - (x position)) / ((target y) - (y position)))
if <(target y) < (y position)> then
  turn cw (180) degrees
end

atan is the inverse of tan, so instead of taking an angle and giving a ratio of side lengths, atan takes a ratio of side lengths and gives an angle

atan doesn't give the correct angle for all input values for doing points towards, so a second function called atan2 was created to do that

this project has both a “points towards x y” and “atan2 y x” custom block inside

scratchy_boy106 wrote:

gdfsgdfsgdfg wrote:

my post got deleted so I will say this instead
please stop saying “use a sprite/clone” as a workaround
the trig function is more reliable than the sprite one

What is a trig function

big math stuff about triangles and stuff, you learn about it in high school

why hasn't this been added yet? it's kinda hard to skip over a block as simple as this

supercroissants wrote:

scratchy_boy106 wrote:

gdfsgdfsgdfg wrote:

my post got deleted so I will say this instead
please stop saying “use a sprite/clone” as a workaround
the trig function is more reliable than the sprite one

What is a trig function

big math stuff about triangles and stuff, you learn about it in high school

why hasn't this been added yet? it's kinda hard to skip over a block as simple as this

It also kind of feels like bad code practice to me to do a lot of trig every time you want to point to a certain spot on the screen..

HAL95131 wrote:

supercroissants wrote:

scratchy_boy106 wrote:

gdfsgdfsgdfg wrote:

my post got deleted so I will say this instead
please stop saying “use a sprite/clone” as a workaround
the trig function is more reliable than the sprite one

What is a trig function

big math stuff about triangles and stuff, you learn about it in high school

why hasn't this been added yet? it's kinda hard to skip over a block as simple as this

It also kind of feels like bad code practice to me to do a lot of trig every time you want to point to a certain spot on the screen..

also the fact that half the users on scratch don't even know what trig is

then this would be a good opportunity to learn, but also you don't need to know to use the workaround

here's the version from the project without the edge case fix, which should be good enough for most use cases

define point towards x: (x) y: (y)
point in direction (([atan v] of (((x) - (x position)) / ((y) - (y position)))::operators) + ((180) * <(y) < (y position)>))

you only need to code it once and then can use it in any sprite in your project

for use in other projects add it to your backpack

TimothyLawyer wrote:

then this would be a good opportunity to learn, but also you don't need to know to use the workaround

here's the version from the project without the edge case fix, which should be good enough for most use cases

define point towards x: (x) y: (y)
point in direction (([atan v] of (((x) - (x position)) / ((y) - (y position)))::operators) + ((180) * <(y) < (y position)>))

you only need to code it once and then can use it in any sprite in your project

for use in other projects add it to your backpack

requiring users as young as 9 to learn trig so they use an essential block like this is an awful idea

TimothyLawyer wrote:

ZippyZebraZoom85749 wrote:

TimothyLawyer wrote:

here's a way to do it with acos

Many Scratchers are 8 to 12 years old, so I don't think this would be understandable.

that's the beauty of a custom block, you put it in your backpack, add it to your project, and don't have to understand what it is doing internally to use it in your project

you should be able to understand it though
that's the main idea of scratch, turning code into something you can understand

supercroissants wrote:

TimothyLawyer wrote:

ZippyZebraZoom85749 wrote:

TimothyLawyer wrote:

here's a way to do it with acos

Many Scratchers are 8 to 12 years old, so I don't think this would be understandable.

that's the beauty of a custom block, you put it in your backpack, add it to your project, and don't have to understand what it is doing internally to use it in your project

you should be able to understand it though
that's the main idea of scratch, turning code into something you can understand

tru

Id also like to say that you should be able to understand a workaround Incase you want to modify it of make it do something else. And a lot of scratch's userbase is 8-13 so highschool math doesn't work if you want to understand the block.