1POW(3P) POSIX Programmer's Manual POW(3P)
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6 This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The Linux
7 implementation of this interface may differ (consult the corresponding
8 Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may
9 not be implemented on Linux.
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12 pow, powf, powl — power function
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15 #include <math.h>
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17 double pow(double x, double y);
18 float powf(float x, float y);
19 long double powl(long double x, long double y);
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22 The functionality described on this reference page is aligned with the
23 ISO C standard. Any conflict between the requirements described here
24 and the ISO C standard is unintentional. This volume of POSIX.1‐2017
25 defers to the ISO C standard.
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27 These functions shall compute the value of x raised to the power y, xy.
28 If x is negative, the application shall ensure that y is an integer
29 value.
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31 An application wishing to check for error situations should set errno
32 to zero and call feclearexcept(FE_ALL_EXCEPT) before calling these
33 functions. On return, if errno is non-zero or fetestexcept(FE_INVALID |
34 FE_DIVBYZERO | FE_OVERFLOW | FE_UNDERFLOW) is non-zero, an error has
35 occurred.
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38 Upon successful completion, these functions shall return the value of x
39 raised to the power y.
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41 For finite values of x < 0, and finite non-integer values of y, a
42 domain error shall occur and either a NaN (if representable), or an
43 implementation-defined value shall be returned.
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45 If the correct value would cause overflow, a range error shall occur
46 and pow(), powf(), and powl() shall return ±HUGE_VAL, ±HUGE_VALF, and
47 ±HUGE_VALL, respectively, with the same sign as the correct value of
48 the function.
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50 If the correct value would cause underflow, and is not representable, a
51 range error may occur, and pow(), powf(), and powl() shall return 0.0,
52 or (if IEC 60559 Floating-Point is not supported) an implementation-
53 defined value no greater in magnitude than DBL_MIN, FLT_MIN, and
54 LDBL_MIN, respectively.
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56 For y < 0, if x is zero, a pole error may occur and pow(), powf(), and
57 powl() shall return ±HUGE_VAL, ±HUGE_VALF, and ±HUGE_VALL, respec‐
58 tively. On systems that support the IEC 60559 Floating-Point option,
59 if x is ±0, a pole error shall occur and pow(), powf(), and powl()
60 shall return ±HUGE_VAL, ±HUGE_VALF, and ±HUGE_VALL, respectively if y
61 is an odd integer, or HUGE_VAL, HUGE_VALF, and HUGE_VALL, respectively
62 if y is not an odd integer.
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64 If x or y is a NaN, a NaN shall be returned (unless specified elsewhere
65 in this description).
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67 For any value of y (including NaN), if x is +1, 1.0 shall be returned.
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69 For any value of x (including NaN), if y is ±0, 1.0 shall be returned.
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71 For any odd integer value of y > 0, if x is ±0, ±0 shall be returned.
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73 For y > 0 and not an odd integer, if x is ±0, +0 shall be returned.
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75 If x is -1, and y is ±Inf, 1.0 shall be returned.
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77 For |x| < 1, if y is -Inf, +Inf shall be returned.
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79 For |x| > 1, if y is -Inf, +0 shall be returned.
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81 For |x| < 1, if y is +Inf, +0 shall be returned.
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83 For |x| > 1, if y is +Inf, +Inf shall be returned.
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85 For y an odd integer < 0, if x is -Inf, -0 shall be returned.
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87 For y < 0 and not an odd integer, if x is -Inf, +0 shall be returned.
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89 For y an odd integer > 0, if x is -Inf, -Inf shall be returned.
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91 For y > 0 and not an odd integer, if x is -Inf, +Inf shall be returned.
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93 For y < 0, if x is +Inf, +0 shall be returned.
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95 For y > 0, if x is +Inf, +Inf shall be returned.
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97 If the correct value would cause underflow, and is representable, a
98 range error may occur and the correct value shall be returned.
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101 These functions shall fail if:
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103 Domain Error
104 The value of x is negative and y is a finite non-integer.
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106 If the integer expression (math_errhandling & MATH_ERRNO)
107 is non-zero, then errno shall be set to [EDOM]. If the
108 integer expression (math_errhandling & MATH_ERREXCEPT) is
109 non-zero, then the invalid floating-point exception shall
110 be raised.
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112 Pole Error The value of x is zero and y is negative.
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114 If the integer expression (math_errhandling & MATH_ERRNO)
115 is non-zero, then errno shall be set to [ERANGE]. If the
116 integer expression (math_errhandling & MATH_ERREXCEPT) is
117 non-zero, then the divide-by-zero floating-point exception
118 shall be raised.
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120 Range Error The result overflows.
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122 If the integer expression (math_errhandling & MATH_ERRNO)
123 is non-zero, then errno shall be set to [ERANGE]. If the
124 integer expression (math_errhandling & MATH_ERREXCEPT) is
125 non-zero, then the overflow floating-point exception shall
126 be raised.
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128 These functions may fail if:
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130 Pole Error The value of x is zero and y is negative.
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132 If the integer expression (math_errhandling & MATH_ERRNO)
133 is non-zero, then errno shall be set to [ERANGE]. If the
134 integer expression (math_errhandling & MATH_ERREXCEPT) is
135 non-zero, then the divide-by-zero floating-point exception
136 shall be raised.
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138 Range Error The result underflows.
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140 If the integer expression (math_errhandling & MATH_ERRNO)
141 is non-zero, then errno shall be set to [ERANGE]. If the
142 integer expression (math_errhandling & MATH_ERREXCEPT) is
143 non-zero, then the underflow floating-point exception shall
144 be raised.
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146 The following sections are informative.
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149 None.
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152 On error, the expressions (math_errhandling & MATH_ERRNO) and
153 (math_errhandling & MATH_ERREXCEPT) are independent of each other, but
154 at least one of them must be non-zero.
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157 None.
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160 None.
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163 exp(), feclearexcept(), fetestexcept(), isnan()
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165 The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017, Section 4.20, Treatment of
166 Error Conditions for Mathematical Functions, <math.h>
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169 Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
170 from IEEE Std 1003.1-2017, Standard for Information Technology -- Por‐
171 table Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifi‐
172 cations Issue 7, 2018 Edition, Copyright (C) 2018 by the Institute of
173 Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the
174 event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
175 The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard
176 is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online
177 at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .
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179 Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are
180 most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of the source
181 files to man page format. To report such errors, see https://www.ker‐
182 nel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .
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186IEEE/The Open Group 2017 POW(3P)