Re^3: Non-integer print output???

The exponentiation operator a**b is IIRC optimized to generally handle float input for a and b and is approximating the result.

Does this arise because C's pow/powl/powq functions take floating point inputs and return floating point values ?
I've always assumed so, without ever really knowing.

I'm a little surprised that the C language doesn't provide a pow() function that takes and returns signed long int (or signed long long int) values - though I guess such a function would easily overflow for relatively low input values.

Cheers,
Rob

Comment on Re^3: Non-integer print output???

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Re^4: Non-integer print output??? by bliako (Abbot) on Sep 10, 2021 at 17:18 UTC
interesting discussion here on what's the optimum way to do integer exponentiation, squaring is the standard but not the most optimal. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/101439/the-most-efficient-way-to-implement-an-integer-based-power-function-powint-int	[reply]
Re^4: Non-integer print output??? by LanX (Saint) on Sep 10, 2021 at 15:45 UTC
As I said, it's AFAIR an approximation algorithm. I quickly found efficient integer algorithms too, can't tell why they are not included. I suppose it's provided by the CPU/ MMU? Cheers Rolf _{(addicted to the Perl Programming Language :) Wikisyntax for the Monastery}	[reply]