Re: U2-darn few bugs...

[Carl Distefano cld@xxxxxxxx]

Reply to note from "Robert Holmgren"  Fri, 24
Feb 2006 14:55:12 -0500

> What about negative roots? Do they make "sense"?

Well -- correct me if I'm wrong, David -- a root is a fractional
exponent, as in 2^(1/2) equals the square root of 2, so a negative
root must be the reciprocal of the fractional exponent, as in
2^(-1/2) equals 1 over the square root of 2, or 1/(2^(1/2)).

For me it all hangs together when I think of the slide rule (do kids
today even know what that is?), which works on the principle that to
multiply two numbers you add the exponents, and to divide them you
subtract. So, for example, to multiply 2^(1/2) times 2^(-1/2),
you'd add 1/2 plus -1/2, to get zero, and 2^0=1, and indeed if you
multiply those two numbers, which are reciprocals of each other, the
result is 1, and Bob's your uncle.

--
Carl Distefano
cld@xxxxxxxx