Different types of bows

I'm sorry if this has been answered before but i couldnt find it

Whats the difference between recurve/long/horn bows? I'm a relatively new player but I don't see any difference myself.

-Range (longbow and flatbow have longest ranges)
-Rate of fire (flatbow and Shortbow are fastest)
-Speed of arrow (or rather, how high it flies, Recurve bows shoot straightest)
-Hornbows have armor penetration

Details are in the wiki:
http://guildwars.wikia.com/wiki/Bow

so if im using a R/M im thinking i should use a flatbow, right?

The wiki article on bows has a nice table comparing the characteristics of bows that I think you will find helpful.

Flatbows are generally used in conjunction with the Favorable Winds nature ritual because of the bow's inaccuracy (highest arc and longest flight time, which results in more misses). If you're not using Favorable Winds, then a recurve would likely be a better choice. You lose a bit of range and attack a bit slower with a recurve, but it's the best all-around, compromise bow in the list.

Of course, any ranger going in for marksmanship should have a selection of bows available anyway. Long, flat, and recurve at least, plus maybe a shortbow. Different bows are optimal for different builds. (Though a recurve will more-or-less work with any build, which is why all my ranger heroes are equipped with them.)

Flatbows look ideal at first - max range, max fire speed, but the slow arrow speed does make for trouble. Moving targets are a problem, and you really want to use a recurve bow if you intend to interrupt.

Usually, a ranger uses the longbow or flatbow for pulling, (although the warrior/dervish is better utilized for this if you have a real player one in the party), the recurve or shortbow for interrupting, and the hornbow for maximum damage.

I'm not by any means an expert ranger, so take my opinions here with a grain of salt:

Flatbows are best for pulling because they can overcome the most obstructions to hit the target from the farthest possible distance, AND you actually WANT to miss when pulling. If the foe dodges, then it still aggroes but does not additionally aggro healers from other groups due to damage.

Longbows are just silly because they are inferior to flatbows in pulling, inferior to recurve bows for interrupting, and inferior to all other bows for damage over time. I suppose there are a few niche situations where one might want a longbow, or maybe I'm just missing something, I donno.

I've never found hornbows very useful either, although I've seen calculations that in many situations the AP does allow it to slightly outdamage other bows. I'd rather have the faster refire rate of other bows for things like adrenaline, zealous, vampiric, etc., anyway though.

Recurve bows are best for interrupting because of the fastest flight time and the fact (at least I think) that single-interrupt skills don't depend on refire rates. Shortbows are better for use with Choking Gas or Disrupting Accuracy though since refire rate does matter there.

I like shortbows best for Barrage builds since I land the most hits over time with them (and do at least comparable damage to a hornbow).

Summary:

Shortbow for vampiric/zealous + barrage. Short range and fast reload speed (pewpewpew).

Recurve bow for interrupting and arrows that hit. Medium range and medium speed. Good accuracy.

Flatbow for a faster rain of arrows and also ideal for pulling. Long range and fast speed. Bad accuracy (You shoot arrows much higher with a flatbow, so it takes longer for an arrow to get to the target), so extremely bad for interrupting. Would be good for vampiric/zealous if the accuracy was better, but is decent with barrage, since you can attack targets farther away.

Hornbow against heavily armored targets? (Never use a hornbow myself) Medium range and slow speed.

Longbow for slower, but more damaging pulling. Long range and slow speed. Generally, flatbows deal more damage than longbows if the target isn't moving around.

wiki is ftw

Bow class____Attack interval__Range2 _Flight Time3___Arc Size__Other Properties
Flatbow______2.0 seconds____1.35____0.88 seconds__High
Hornbow_____2.7 seconds____1.2_____0.59 seconds__Medium___10% armor penetration
Longbow_____2.4 seconds____1.35____0.59 seconds__Medium
Recurve Bow__2.4 seconds____1.2_____0.40 seconds__Low
Shortbow____ 2.0 seconds____1.0_____0.59 seconds__Medium

also note that people typically use read the wind or spirit of favorable winds with a flatbow. those make the arcs drastically lower.

For pve,use a longbow in general, then if enemeis are within range use a shortbow. I mostly don't even bother using a longbow nowdays. It also depends on what build your using,if you have a constant IAS like Never Rampage Alone,then you may want to use a recurve bow.

If you new I'd recommend just using a Longbow or Flatbow, they have the longest ranges.
What I do is have 3 different bows (Longbow, Recurve bow and Shortbow) that I use depending on the build, or how close someone is.

For example a crippler I use a longbow, but an interrupter I use a shortbow, because the flight time is shorter.

Stay away from longbows, just don't use them.

Recurve for general PvE usage.

If at anytime you are under read the wind/Favorable winds, use a flatbow

If you are running a spike build with many fast recharging arrow attacks, use a hornbow.

Shortbows on rare occasions, but most of the time no.

thank you all so much for your help :]