CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javafloating-pointdivisionexponentiation
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Reputation: 512

How to calculate a^(1/n)?

I am trying to calculate a^(1/n), where ^ denotes exponentiation.

However, the following:

Math.pow(8, 1/3)

returns 1.0 instead of returning 2.0.

Why is that?

Upvotes: 8

Views: 410

Answers (3)

NPE
NPE

Reputation: 500873

The problem is that 1/3 uses integer (truncating) division, the result of which is zero. Change your code to

Math.pow(8, 1./3);

(The . turns the 1. into a floating-point literal.)

Upvotes: 17

ssantos
ssantos

Reputation: 16536

Try Math.pow(8, (1.0f / 3.0f)) instead.

1 / 3 will do an integer division, which will give you 8 ^ 0 = 1

Upvotes: 4

Sam
Sam

Reputation: 1912

1/3 becomes 0(Because 1 and 3 are taken as int literals).

So you should make those literals float/double...

Do:

Math.pow(8, 1f/3) or

Math.pow(8, 1./3) or

Math.pow(8, 1.0/3)

Upvotes: 5

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