On Wed, 2007-04-25 at 09:10 -0300, Martin Marques wrote: > Please, tell me I haven't lost it yet. > > octave:14> -5^4 > ans = -625 > > Since when does an even power of a negative number give a negative result? > > $ rpm -q octave > octave-2.9.9-1.fc6 In many math programs a -# means to multiply the digits by (-1). Since exponentiation is a higher math precidence (unary operator vs binary operator), exponentiation occurs first, then the multiply. Try (-5)^4. Regards, Les H
