Power (function)
- This page describes the dyadic function. For the monadic function that uses as a base, see Exponential. For the iteration operator, see Power (operator).
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Power (*
) is a dyadic scalar function that computes the exponentiation function of the two arguments, so that <syntaxhighlight lang=apl inline>X*Y</source> is <syntaxhighlight lang=apl inline>X</source> raised to the power <syntaxhighlight lang=apl inline>Y</source>. Power shares the glyph <syntaxhighlight lang=apl inline>*</source> with the monadic arithmetic function Exponential.
Examples
<syntaxhighlight lang=apl>
2*¯1 0 1 2 3 4 5
0.5 1 2 4 8 16 32 </source> A common technique is to choose sign based on a Boolean array: <syntaxhighlight lang=apl>
¯1*1 0 0 1 0
¯1 1 1 ¯1 1 </source>
Properties
For positive integer <syntaxhighlight lang=apl inline>Y</source>, <syntaxhighlight lang=apl inline>X*Y</source> equals the product of <syntaxhighlight lang=apl inline>Y</source> copies of <syntaxhighlight lang=apl inline>X</source>. When <syntaxhighlight lang=apl inline>Y</source> is 0, <syntaxhighlight lang=apl inline>X*Y</source> equals 1, possibly except when <syntaxhighlight lang=apl inline>X</source> is also 0 (since zero to the power of zero is undefined in mathematics).
<syntaxhighlight lang=apl>
3*5
243
×/5⍴3
243
1 2 3*0
1 1 1 </source>
Negating the exponent (right argument) gives the reciprocal of the return value.
<syntaxhighlight lang=apl>
(2*¯4)=÷2*4
1 </source>
If the exponent is the reciprocal of some number n, the result is the n-th root of the base. For example, a right argument of <syntaxhighlight lang=apl inline>÷2</source> gives the square root.
<syntaxhighlight lang=apl>
3*2
9
9*÷2
3 </source>
Power has two inverses, Root and Logarithm: <syntaxhighlight lang=apl>
2*3
8
2⍟8
3
3√8
2 </source>
External links
Documentation
- Dyalog
- APLX
- J Dictionary, NuVoc
- BQN