search for: wrong_003f

Why does the expression "(-8)^(1/3)" return NaN, instead of -2? This is not answered by http://cran.r-project.org/doc/FAQ/R-FAQ.html#Why-are-powers-of-negative-numbers-wrong_003f Thanks, Dave [[alternative HTML version deleted]]

Dear R developers, is that right? > -27^(1/3) [1] -3 > c(-27,27)^(1/3) [1] NaN 3 i'm using sign( c(-27,27) ) * abs( c(-27,27)) ^(1/3) , thanks [[alternative HTML version deleted]]

Hi why I can't do this? m<-c(1,-2,3) m^2.1 with a negative number in it ,but I can do this to a single negative number like -2^2.1~ Thank you ~ JIngsi [[alternative HTML version deleted]]

I had a question about the basic power functions in R. For example from the R console I enter: -1 ^ 2 [1] -1 but also -1^3 [1] -1 -0.1^2 [1] -0.01 Normally pow(-1, 2) return either -Infinity or NaN. Has R taken over the math functions? If so I would think that -1^2 is 1 not -1 and -0.1^2 is 0.01 not -0.01. Thank you. Kevin

Can someone please enlighten me as to why the following happens? > -2.7^8.6 [1] -5125.407 > p<- -2.7 > q<- 8.6 > p^q [1] NaN R seems perfectly able to calculate -2.7^8.6, but fails when the exact same values are assigned to variables and then the computation is repeated. Thanks in advance for any suggetsions. Kris.