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Windows PowerShell Math Functions

Windows PowerShell System.Math::Static Method

There are no separate math functions in PowerShell. So when you need to access a maths function such as Round or Sqrt, just call for the System.Math. If you have ever wondered about the PowerShell double colon (::), then all is revealed, it means a static method.

PowerShell Math Round
PowerShell System.Math Truncate
PowerShell System.Math in Action
Review of PowerShell Math

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PowerShell System.Math Round

Once you call for [System.Math] PowerShell's double colon (::) introduces the function, in this case Round.

# PowerShell System.Math Round static method
Clear-Host
$Num = 49.6814343
[System.Math]::Round($Num, 2)

Note 1: This example rounds to two decimal places.

Note 2: You could shorten to [Math].

PowerShell System.Math Truncate

Rather than rounding, you could achieve much the same result with truncate.

# PowerShell System.Math truncate method
Clear-Host
$Num = 49.6814343
[Math]::Truncate($Num)

Note 3: As an alternative I have used [Math] instead of [System.Math]; the pair seem interchangeable.

Note 4: Incidentally, 'Round' calculates to the nearest number, which means it will round up. Whereas Truncate just chops off the decimal places. Thus:

Round $Num = 49.6814343. The result is: 50
Truncate $Num = 49.6814343. The result is: 49

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PowerShell System.Math Square Root

# PowerShell System.Math::static method Sqrt (Square Root)
Clear-Host
$Num = 49
[System.Math]::Sqrt($Num)

Note 5: Observe that there is no need to create an object for the Math class, we simply employ :: before the method.

Square Root and Round, 2 Places

# PowerShell Math static method ::Sqrt (Square Root)
Clear-Host
$Num = 490
[Math]::Round([Math]::Sqrt($Num),2)

Note 6: Observe the position of the 2, as in two decimal places.

Note 7: Check the logic of PowerShell's brackets.

Note 8: Here [System.Math] has been abbreviated to [Math]

PowerShell System.Math in Action

Here is an example which works with % CPU time, what System.Math::Round does is remove those confusing decimal places in the CPU value.

# PowerShell Math static method ::Round
Clear-Host
$Proc = Get-Process | Sort-Object cpu -desc
ForEach ($Item in $Proc) {
$CPU =[System.Math]::Round($Item.CPU)
"{0,-28} {1,10} {2,20}" -f `
$Item.name, $CPU, $Item.WorkingSet
}

Superior Method -AS

If you just want to get the job done (rounding CPU), rather than testing System.Math, then this may be a simpler technique.

Clear-Host
$CPU_Calc = @{ Label = "CPU Time"; Expression={($_.cpu) -as [int] }}
get-process | Sort-Object cpu -descending `
| Format-Table Name, $CPU_Calc, WorkingSet -auto

Note 9: The rounding or truncating is controlled by @{Label = ; Expression=}; observe the -as [int] construction. See more about the PowerShell -AS operator.

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Researching Static Properties

The secret of finding more static properties is employ Get-Member with the -static parameter.

[System.IO.File] | Get-Member -Static

Note 10: Try substituting other objects for .File, for example, Path or DriveInfo.

Note 11: Most other cmdlets have at least one static properties for example,

Get-Process | Get-Member -Static

TypeName: System.Diagnostics.Process

Name MemberType Definition
---- ---------- ----------
EnterDebugMode Method static void EnterDebugMode()
Equals Method static bool Equals(System.Object objA, System.Object objB)
GetCurrentProcess Method static System.Diagnostics.Process GetCurrentProcess()
GetProcessById Method static System.Diagnostics.Process GetProcessById(int processId, string machineName), static System.Diagnostics.Process GetProcessById(int processId)
GetProcesses Method static System.Diagnostics.Process[] GetProcesses(), static System.Diagnostics.Process[] GetProcesses(string machineName)
GetProcessesByName Method static System.Diagnostics.Process[] GetProcessesByName(string processName), static System.Diagnostics.Process[] GetProcessesByName(string processName, string machineName)
LeaveDebugMode Method static void LeaveDebugMode()
ReferenceEquals Method static bool ReferenceEquals(System.Object objA, System.Object objB)
Start Method static System.Diagnostics.Process Start(string fileName, string userName, securestring password, string domain), static System.Diagnostics.Process Start(string fileName, s...

See more on PowerShell Math »

Summary of PowerShell Math Functions

When you need to access a maths function such as Round or Truncate, just call for the System.Math. PowerShell has no separate math functions. There is no need to create an object for the Math class, simply employ a double colon (::) before the method.

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See more PowerShell examples of math operations

• PowerShell Maths Index • Windows PowerShell • PowerShell Splatting

• PowerShell Math • Comparison Operators • PowerShell Measure Object • Measure Command

• PowerShell Tutorials • Syntax • Pipeline • PowrShell Quotes • Free WMI Monitor

Please email me if you have a better example script. Also please report any factual mistakes, grammatical errors or broken links, I will be happy to correct the fault.

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