Hi Everyone,

    I did a search through the archives and did not find an answer,
although I must admit it is a hard search to do ( ^0.5 is tough to
explicitly search for ).

    I am sure there is some mathematically accurate reason to explain the
following, but I guess I either never learned it or have since forgotten it.

    In 'R', when I type (for instance):

sqrt(-4)

    I get

NaN

    but if I type in:

-4 ^ 0.5

    I get

-2

    I presume this is on purpose and correct, but it's the first time I've
come across any theoretical difference between ^0.5 and sqrt.  What is the
theoretical difference / meaning between these two operations?

                              Thanks!
                                   Mike


---
[The theory of gravity] is to me so great an absurdity that I believe no
Man who has in philosophical matters a competent faculty of thinking can
ever fall into it.  -- Isaac Newton

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