On 21/04/2008, John Fouhy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >>> -1 ** (1.0/2.0) > -1.0
Replying to myself: It turns out that all is not what it seems. Let's try again: >>> (-1)**0.5 Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> ValueError: negative number cannot be raised to a fractional power So, to revise my answer, for math.pow(x,y) or x**y, python will refuse negative values of x. This might not be mathematically perfect, but you get what you pay for, I guess. Furthermore, python evaluates "-x**y" as "-(x**y)" which is why it seemed to give correct answers. -- John. _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
