Language basics - JavaTech: An Introduction to Scientific and Technical Computing with Java - page 54

The “ a%b „ modulo operator returns the remainder of a divided by b .For
example,
5%3
returns a value of 2. The modulo operator also works with floating-point values.
If either operand is floating-point, the remainder is a floating-point type.
Note that the Math class (see below) includes the method
Math.IEEEremainder (double a, double b)
which computes the remainder of a/b for two double type values according to
the specific rules of the IEEE 754 standard (see the Math class in the Java 2 API
Specifications).
Java does not include an exponentiation operator, such as x**b for x to the
power of b . Instead, you must use the Math class method
Math.pow (double a, double b)
which computes a to the power of b and returns a double type.
2.13.2 Math functions
Beyond the basic arithmetic operations, a number of mathematical functions and
constants are available in the core Java language via the Math class. We discuss
exactly what a class is in the next chapter so for now just accept that the function
name must be preceded by “ Math. „ .
Math is a class that comes as part of the core language. It offers many useful
features:
Constants:
Math.PI
Math.E
Trigonometric functions (radian units):
double x = .5;
double y = Math.sin (x * Math.PI);
x = Math.asin (y);
Absolute values:
int i = Math.abs (j);
Random number generators:
double x = Math.random (); // In the range:
// 0.0 <= x < 1.0
Other:
double y = Math.sqrt (x);
double x = Math.exp (y);