> >>> (-1)**(1/3) > (0.5000000000000001+0.8660254037844386j)
Your example illustrates twice that an operation can lead to a bigger set : 1/3 is a python float :-) It is puzzling, but it does not seem to be so. If 1/3 would be a python float, (-1)**(1/3) is not defined under the usual definition of x^y = exp(y*ln(x)) with the standard branch cut for the logarithmic function. Python seems to deal with (-1)**(1/3) as a fractional power, and thus gives the primitive cube root of -1 as a complex number. Python doc says math.pow(-1, 1/3) converts 1/3 to a python float, and raises an error, unlike (-1)**(1/3). Thus math.pow seems to use the usual definition of x^y. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sage-devel" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sage-devel+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sage-devel/1d41068a-2fa1-4dcf-ada8-fa2348d38efen%40googlegroups.com.