Talk:Exponentiation order

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Revision as of 03:31, 19 March 2014 by rosettacode>Ledrug (→‎Functions: vagueness?)

Functions

So it has to be an operator? A "pow" function is not allowed? --Mwn3d (talk) 19:00, 18 March 2014 (UTC)

No, and then no.   Er, I mean, it doesn't have to be, and yes, POW is allowed if there isn't an operator for exponentiation.   I have no qualms about including the POW function in any case.   But a function has no misinterpretation of what order the exponentiation is in, as in   pow(x,y).   Of course, you could write   pow(x, pow(y,z))   (or something similar, depending on you or your language interpret the operator) to show this task's intention, but there is no ambiguity in function calls.   Whereas,   5**3**2   is swimming with vagueness. -- Gerard Schildberger (talk) 19:09, 18 March 2014 (UTC)
Why? Somehow people don't find "a - b - c" swimming in vagueness. And in the languages I know, if there's an pow operator, 5**3**2 is always interpreted as 5**(3**2), just like in maths. --Ledrug (talk) 03:31, 19 March 2014 (UTC)
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