2006/3/21, Daniel Carrera <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
> Henrik Sundberg wrote:
> > I think it is strange to be this pedantic about 0^0, and not care
> > about math at all when it comes to normal cases like this. Are we
> > looking for compatibility with Microsoft or math?

"this" above was referring to "-(A1-B1)^2 is not resolved to
-((A1-B1)^2) instead it seems to be (-(A1-B1))^2".
The snipping made the meaning disappear. I think this case is more important.

> I am a mathematecian, and not exactly a Microsoft fan. So I'll vote for
> math of course (and I can get very pedantic about this). Though, in the
> case of 0^0 math doesn't provide an unambiguous answer because in the
> strictest sense 0^0 doesn't make sense. In some (not all) instances it
> is convenient (not required) to define it (notice, a definition) as 1.
>
> I think that defining it as 1 for Calc will hurt more people than
> defining it as an error.

Our opinions differ. Fair enough. Seems like we focused on different
parts of the, in my eyes well written, discussion at
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/sci-math-faq/specialnumbers/0to0/

> One alternative is: If a cell ever gets 0^0 Calc makes it 1 the way you
> want, but the user gets a pop-up warning him of this fact. And possibly
> giving him the option of changing that behaviour, or not show the
> warning again (like Firefox does with encrypted sites).

No. Imagine you send a spreadsheet using this to someone. Do you
intend to supply a document specifying "click No when a dialog asks
for 0^0 handling"? Or should the option be per spreadsheet? Or should
it be handled with style (bad joke...)? I.e. using a "0^0=1" style for
the field?

In the Firefox case you get the needed information in the dialog. This
case is not the same.

/$

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Reply via email to