RE: Strange result with exponents...

> From: Buck
> 
> I realise that this isn't an explanation of why the results are
different
> between V5R1 and V5R2.  It does seem to be a disclaimer that we
shouldn't
> expect float to be terribly precise, which is a different attribute
from
> repeatable.

And thus from a backwards compatibility standpoint, it's pretty clear
that changing exponentiation to use a floating point value (if that's
indeed what happened) actually reduced precision.  This should have at
least been enough to warrant a warning somewhere in the release notes
(and there may well have been, I haven't read the release notes for V5R2
yet).

Think about it: if indeed exponentiation was changed, and somebody is
currently using exponentiation in a production program, that program is
now possibly giving erroneous results.  That is something IBM has been
extremely good about in the past, and is something I'd hope they'd
continue to adhere to: "Break no code (and if you do, let the users no
in REALLY BIG letters)."

Joe