On 2006-09-11, Henning Thielemann
On Sat, 9 Sep 2006, Brian Hulley wrote:
negate (expNat 4 2)
because this would free the ^ symbol for some more widely applicable use, and would also make the particular choice of exponentiation operator more explicit
Agreed, though I'd want expt to be part of a typeclass (possibly multi-parameter to get exp:: Integral a => a -> Natural -> a as an instance?).
Yes, a typeclass for exp would be ideal (and a newtype for Natural).
What about (expNat exponent basis) ? This argument order is more convenient for partial application.
Cf. http://www.haskell.org/pipermail/haskell-cafe/2006-April/015329.html
I don't see anything in that message supporting either argument order. Personally, I mostly use exponentials in the context of the fourier transform. Although it could be expressed by either varying the exponent or the base, I find varying the exponent to be far more natural. Consider also the specialization we have of power: exp, with a fixed base, but not square, with a fixed exponent. -- Aaron Denney -><-