Re: [Haskell-beginners] Can't square zero as a complex number?

On Thu, Jul 26, 2012 at 12:08:00PM -0400, Scott N. Walck wrote:

Hi,

Is there a reason why I can't use ** to square zero as a complex number?

Prelude> :m Data.Complex Prelude Data.Complex> (0:+0) ** 2 NaN :+ NaN Prelude Data.Complex> (0 :: Complex Double) ** 2 NaN :+ NaN

It appears that Complex uses the default implementation of (**), namely, x ** y = exp (log x * y) I have no opinions on whether this is a good idea. But as someone else noted, (^) works fine if you know you want to use a positive integral power. -Brent