[R] R: to the power

[Sean O'Riordain]

> (-8+0i)^(1/3)
[1] 1+1.732051i

ie complex...

On 12/07/05, allan_sta_staff_sci_main_uct at mail.uct.ac.za
<allan_sta_staff_sci_main_uct at mail.uct.ac.za> wrote:
> hi all
> 
> why does R do this:
> 
> (-8)^(1/3)=NaN
> 
> the answer should be : -2
> 
> a silly question but i kept on getting errors in some of my code due to this
> problem.
> 
> i solve the problem as follows:
> 
> say we want : (-a)^(1/3)
> 
> then : sign(a)*(a^(1/3)) works
> 
> but there has to be a simpler way of soing such a simple mathematical operation.
> 
> thanking you
> /
> allan
> 
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