GNU bug report logs - #24561
Unmathematical bc exponentiation behavior

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From: "Martens, Tobias" <tobias.martens <at> stud.uni-goettingen.de>
To: 24561 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#24561: Unmathematical bc exponentiation behavior
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2016 15:48:27 +0000

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Hey,

echo "-(1)^2" | bc
1

I would have expected -1. This behavior is unmathematical and very confusing, because otherwise bc acts quite logic.
Not sure if it is mandated by POSIX, atleast I could not find it to be in the section of exponentiation operator. Was this ever discussed?
Resolving "-(positive float)" to "(-1)*(positive float)" for intern calculation seems more appropriate to me and would give the desired results.

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