To compute the absolute value of a negative base raised to a fractional exponent such as:
z = (-3)^4.5 you can compute the real and imaginary parts and then convert to the polar form to get the correct value: real_part = ( 3^-4.5 ) * cos( -4.5 * pi ) imag_part = ( 3^-4.5 ) * sin( -4.5 * pi ) |z| = sqrt( real_part^2 + imag_part^2 ) Is there any way to determine the correct sign of z, or perform this calculation in another way that allows you to get the correct value of z expressed without imaginary parts? For example, I can compute: z1 = (-3)^-4 = 0,012345679 and z3 = (-3)^-5 = -0,004115226 and I can get what the correct absolute value of z2 should be by computing the real and imaginary parts: |z2| = (-3)^-4.5 = sqrt( 3,92967E-18^2 + -0,007127781^2 ) = 0,007127781 but I need to know the sign. Any help is appreciated. but I can know the correct sign for this value. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
