A fun way to solve your problem could be coding an eval() function on your own!
I've done it for you!
You can use FunctionSolver library simply by typing FunctionSolver.solveByX(function,value) inside your code. The function attribute is a String which represents the function you want to solve, the value attribute is the value of the independent variable
of your function (which MUST be x).
If you want to solve a function which contains more than one independent variable, you can use FunctionSolver.solve(function,values) where the values attribute is an HashMap(String,Double) which contains all your independent attributes (as Strings) and their respective values (as Doubles).
Another piece of information: I've coded a simple version of FunctionSolver, so its supports only Math methods which return a double value and which accepts one or two double values as fields (just use FunctionSolver.usableMathMethods() if you're curious) (These methods are: bs, sin, cos, tan, atan2, sqrt, log, log10, pow, exp, min, max, copySign, signum, IEEEremainder, acos, asin, atan, cbrt, ceil, cosh, expm1, floor, hypot, log1p, nextAfter, nextDown, nextUp, random, rint, sinh, tanh, toDegrees, toRadians, ulp). Also, that library supports the following operators: * / + - ^ (even if java normally does not support the ^ operator).
One last thing: while creating this library I had to use reflections to call Math methods. I think it's really cool, just have a look at this if you are interested in!
That's all, here it is the code (and the library):
package core;
import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.HashMap;
public abstract class FunctionSolver {
public static double solveNumericExpression (String expression) throws NoSuchMethodException, IllegalAccessException, IllegalArgumentException, InvocationTargetException {
return solve(expression, new HashMap<>());
}
public static double solveByX (String function, double value) throws NoSuchMethodException, IllegalAccessException, IllegalArgumentException, InvocationTargetException {
HashMap<String, Double> values = new HashMap<>();
values.put("x", value);
return solveComplexFunction(function, function, values);
}
public static double solve (String function, HashMap<String,Double> values) throws NoSuchMethodException, IllegalAccessException, IllegalArgumentException, InvocationTargetException {
return solveComplexFunction(function, function, values);
}
private static double solveComplexFunction (String function, String motherFunction, HashMap<String, Double> values) throws NoSuchMethodException, IllegalAccessException, IllegalArgumentException, InvocationTargetException {
int position = 0;
while(position < function.length()) {
if (alphabetic.contains(""+function.charAt(position))) {
if (position == 0 || !alphabetic.contains(""+function.charAt(position-1))) {
int endIndex = -1;
for (int j = position ; j < function.length()-1 ; j++) {
if (alphabetic.contains(""+function.charAt(j))
&& !alphabetic.contains(""+function.charAt(j+1))) {
endIndex = j;
break;
}
}
if (endIndex == -1 & alphabetic.contains(""+function.charAt(function.length()-1))) {
endIndex = function.length()-1;
}
if (endIndex != -1) {
String alphabeticElement = function.substring(position, endIndex+1);
if (Arrays.asList(usableMathMethods()).contains(alphabeticElement)) {
//Start analyzing a Math function
int closeParenthesisIndex = -1;
int openedParenthesisquantity = 0;
int commaIndex = -1;
for (int j = endIndex+1 ; j < function.length() ; j++) {
if (function.substring(j,j+1).equals("(")) {
openedParenthesisquantity++;
}else if (function.substring(j,j+1).equals(")")) {
openedParenthesisquantity--;
if (openedParenthesisquantity == 0) {
closeParenthesisIndex = j;
break;
}
}else if (function.substring(j,j+1).equals(",") & openedParenthesisquantity == 0) {
if (commaIndex == -1) {
commaIndex = j;
}else{
throw new IllegalArgumentException("The argument of math function (which is "+alphabeticElement+") has too many commas");
}
}
}
if (closeParenthesisIndex == -1) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("The argument of a Math function (which is "+alphabeticElement+") hasn't got the closing bracket )");
}
String functionArgument = function.substring(endIndex+2,closeParenthesisIndex);
if (commaIndex != -1) {
double firstParameter = solveComplexFunction(functionArgument.substring(0,commaIndex),motherFunction,values);
double secondParameter = solveComplexFunction(functionArgument.substring(commaIndex+1),motherFunction,values);
Method mathMethod = Math.class.getDeclaredMethod(alphabeticElement, new Class<?>[] {double.class, double.class});
mathMethod.setAccessible(true);
String newKey = getNewKey(values);
values.put(newKey, (Double) mathMethod.invoke(null, firstParameter, secondParameter));
function = function.substring(0, position)+newKey
+((closeParenthesisIndex == function.length()-1)?(""):(function.substring(closeParenthesisIndex+1)));
}else {
double firstParameter = solveComplexFunction(functionArgument, motherFunction, values);
Method mathMethod = Math.class.getDeclaredMethod(alphabeticElement, new Class<?>[] {double.class});
mathMethod.setAccessible(true);
String newKey = getNewKey(values);
values.put(newKey, (Double) mathMethod.invoke(null, firstParameter));
function = function.substring(0, position)+newKey
+((closeParenthesisIndex == function.length()-1)?(""):(function.substring(closeParenthesisIndex+1)));
}
}else if (!values.containsKey(alphabeticElement)) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Found a group of letters ("+alphabeticElement+") which is neither a variable nor a Math function: ");
}
}
}
}
position++;
}
return solveBracketsFunction(function,motherFunction,values);
}
private static double solveBracketsFunction (String function,String motherFunction,HashMap<String, Double> values) throws IllegalArgumentException{
function = function.replace(" ", "");
String openingBrackets = "([{";
String closingBrackets = ")]}";
int parenthesisIndex = 0;
do {
int position = 0;
int openParenthesisBlockIndex = -1;
String currentOpeningBracket = openingBrackets.charAt(parenthesisIndex)+"";
String currentClosingBracket = closingBrackets.charAt(parenthesisIndex)+"";
if (contOccouranceIn(currentOpeningBracket,function) != contOccouranceIn(currentClosingBracket,function)) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Error: brackets are misused in the function "+function);
}
while (position < function.length()) {
if (function.substring(position,position+1).equals(currentOpeningBracket)) {
if (position != 0 && !operators.contains(function.substring(position-1,position))) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Error in function: there must be an operator following a "+currentClosingBracket+" breacket");
}
openParenthesisBlockIndex = position;
}else if (function.substring(position,position+1).equals(currentClosingBracket)) {
if (position != function.length()-1 && !operators.contains(function.substring(position+1,position+2))) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Error in function: there must be an operator before a "+currentClosingBracket+" breacket");
}
String newKey = getNewKey(values);
values.put(newKey, solveBracketsFunction(function.substring(openParenthesisBlockIndex+1,position),motherFunction, values));
function = function.substring(0,openParenthesisBlockIndex)+newKey
+((position == function.length()-1)?(""):(function.substring(position+1)));
position = -1;
}
position++;
}
parenthesisIndex++;
}while (parenthesisIndex < openingBrackets.length());
return solveBasicFunction(function,motherFunction, values);
}
private static double solveBasicFunction (String function, String motherFunction, HashMap<String, Double> values) throws IllegalArgumentException{
if (!firstContainsOnlySecond(function, alphanumeric+operators)) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("The function "+function+" is not a basic function");
}
if (function.contains("**") |
function.contains("//") |
function.contains("--") |
function.contains("+*") |
function.contains("+/") |
function.contains("-*") |
function.contains("-/")) {
/*
* ( -+ , +- , *- , *+ , /- , /+ )> Those values are admitted
*/
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Operators are misused in the function");
}
function = function.replace(" ", "");
int position;
int operatorIndex = 0;
String currentOperator;
do {
currentOperator = operators.substring(operatorIndex,operatorIndex+1);
if (currentOperator.equals("*")) {
currentOperator+="/";
operatorIndex++;
}else if (currentOperator.equals("+")) {
currentOperator+="-";
operatorIndex++;
}
operatorIndex++;
position = 0;
while (position < function.length()) {
if ((position == 0 && !(""+function.charAt(position)).equals("-") && !(""+function.charAt(position)).equals("+") && operators.contains(""+function.charAt(position))) ||
(position == function.length()-1 && operators.contains(""+function.charAt(position)))){
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Operators are misused in the function");
}
if (currentOperator.contains(function.substring(position, position+1)) & position != 0) {
int firstTermBeginIndex = position;
while (firstTermBeginIndex > 0) {
if ((alphanumeric.contains(""+function.charAt(firstTermBeginIndex))) & (operators.contains(""+function.charAt(firstTermBeginIndex-1)))){
break;
}
firstTermBeginIndex--;
}
if (firstTermBeginIndex != 0 && (function.charAt(firstTermBeginIndex-1) == '-' | function.charAt(firstTermBeginIndex-1) == '+')) {
if (firstTermBeginIndex == 1) {
firstTermBeginIndex--;
}else if (operators.contains(""+(function.charAt(firstTermBeginIndex-2)))){
firstTermBeginIndex--;
}
}
String firstTerm = function.substring(firstTermBeginIndex,position);
int secondTermLastIndex = position;
while (secondTermLastIndex < function.length()-1) {
if ((alphanumeric.contains(""+function.charAt(secondTermLastIndex))) & (operators.contains(""+function.charAt(secondTermLastIndex+1)))) {
break;
}
secondTermLastIndex++;
}
String secondTerm = function.substring(position+1,secondTermLastIndex+1);
double result;
switch (function.substring(position,position+1)) {
case "*": result = solveSingleValue(firstTerm,values)*solveSingleValue(secondTerm,values); break;
case "/": result = solveSingleValue(firstTerm,values)/solveSingleValue(secondTerm,values); break;
case "+": result = solveSingleValue(firstTerm,values)+solveSingleValue(secondTerm,values); break;
case "-": result = solveSingleValue(firstTerm,values)-solveSingleValue(secondTerm,values); break;
case "^": result = Math.pow(solveSingleValue(firstTerm,values),solveSingleValue(secondTerm,values)); break;
default: throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unknown operator: "+currentOperator);
}
String newAttribute = getNewKey(values);
values.put(newAttribute, result);
function = function.substring(0,firstTermBeginIndex)+newAttribute+function.substring(secondTermLastIndex+1,function.length());
deleteValueIfPossible(firstTerm, values, motherFunction);
deleteValueIfPossible(secondTerm, values, motherFunction);
position = -1;
}
position++;
}
}while (operatorIndex < operators.length());
return solveSingleValue(function, values);
}
private static double solveSingleValue (String singleValue, HashMap<String, Double> values) throws IllegalArgumentException{
if (isDouble(singleValue)) {
return Double.parseDouble(singleValue);
}else if (firstContainsOnlySecond(singleValue, alphabetic)){
return getValueFromVariable(singleValue, values);
}else if (firstContainsOnlySecond(singleValue, alphanumeric+"-+")) {
String[] composition = splitByLettersAndNumbers(singleValue);
if (composition.length != 2) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Wrong expression: "+singleValue);
}else {
if (composition[0].equals("-")) {
composition[0] = "-1";
}else if (composition[1].equals("-")) {
composition[1] = "-1";
}else if (composition[0].equals("+")) {
composition[0] = "+1";
}else if (composition[1].equals("+")) {
composition[1] = "+1";
}
if (isDouble(composition[0])) {
return Double.parseDouble(composition[0])*getValueFromVariable(composition[1], values);
}else if (isDouble(composition[1])){
return Double.parseDouble(composition[1])*getValueFromVariable(composition[0], values);
}else {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Wrong expression: "+singleValue);
}
}
}else {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Wrong expression: "+singleValue);
}
}
private static double getValueFromVariable (String variable, HashMap<String, Double> values) throws IllegalArgumentException{
Double val = values.get(variable);
if (val == null) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unknown variable: "+variable);
}else {
return val;
}
}
/*
* FunctionSolver help tools:
*
*/
private static final String alphabetic = "abcdefghilmnopqrstuvzwykxy";
private static final String numeric = "0123456789.";
private static final String alphanumeric = alphabetic+numeric;
private static final String operators = "^*/+-"; //--> Operators order in important!
private static boolean firstContainsOnlySecond(String firstString, String secondString) {
for (int j = 0 ; j < firstString.length() ; j++) {
if (!secondString.contains(firstString.substring(j, j+1))) {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
private static String getNewKey (HashMap<String, Double> hashMap) {
String alpha = "abcdefghilmnopqrstuvzyjkx";
for (int j = 0 ; j < alpha.length() ; j++) {
String k = alpha.substring(j,j+1);
if (!hashMap.containsKey(k) & !Arrays.asList(usableMathMethods()).contains(k)) {
return k;
}
}
for (int j = 0 ; j < alpha.length() ; j++) {
for (int i = 0 ; i < alpha.length() ; i++) {
String k = alpha.substring(j,j+1)+alpha.substring(i,i+1);
if (!hashMap.containsKey(k) & !Arrays.asList(usableMathMethods()).contains(k)) {
return k;
}
}
}
throw new NullPointerException();
}
public static String[] usableMathMethods () {
/*
* Only methods that:
* return a double type
* present one or two parameters (which are double type)
*/
Method[] mathMethods = Math.class.getDeclaredMethods();
ArrayList<String> usableMethodsNames = new ArrayList<>();
for (Method method : mathMethods) {
boolean usable = true;
int argumentsCounter = 0;
Class<?>[] methodParametersTypes = method.getParameterTypes();
for (Class<?> parameter : methodParametersTypes) {
if (!parameter.getSimpleName().equalsIgnoreCase("double")) {
usable = false;
break;
}else {
argumentsCounter++;
}
}
if (!method.getReturnType().getSimpleName().toLowerCase().equals("double")) {
usable = false;
}
if (usable & argumentsCounter<=2) {
usableMethodsNames.add(method.getName());
}
}
return usableMethodsNames.toArray(new String[usableMethodsNames.size()]);
}
private static boolean isDouble (String number) {
try {
Double.parseDouble(number);
return true;
}catch (Exception ex) {
return false;
}
}
private static String[] splitByLettersAndNumbers (String val) {
if (!firstContainsOnlySecond(val, alphanumeric+"+-")) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Wrong passed value: <<"+val+">>");
}
ArrayList<String> response = new ArrayList<>();
String searchingFor;
int lastIndex = 0;
if (firstContainsOnlySecond(""+val.charAt(0), numeric+"+-")) {
searchingFor = alphabetic;
}else {
searchingFor = numeric+"+-";
}
for (int j = 0 ; j < val.length() ; j++) {
if (searchingFor.contains(val.charAt(j)+"")) {
response.add(val.substring(lastIndex, j));
lastIndex = j;
if (searchingFor.equals(numeric+"+-")) {
searchingFor = alphabetic;
}else {
searchingFor = numeric+"+-";
}
}
}
response.add(val.substring(lastIndex,val.length()));
return response.toArray(new String[response.size()]);
}
private static void deleteValueIfPossible (String val, HashMap<String, Double> values, String function) {
if (values.get(val) != null & function != null) {
if (!function.contains(val)) {
values.remove(val);
}
}
}
private static int contOccouranceIn (String howManyOfThatString, String inThatString) {
return inThatString.length() - inThatString.replace(howManyOfThatString, "").length();
}
}