From help-octave-request at bevo dot che dot wisc dot edu  Fri Nov  7 06:59:43 1997
Subject: Re: Arithmetic Problems 
From: Jim Van Zandt <jrv at mbunix dot mitre dot org>
To: Beng Tiong Tan <beng at vocalis dot com>
cc: Octave Help <help-octave at che dot utexas dot edu>
Date: Fri, 07 Nov 1997 07:59:37 -0500


Beng Tiong Tan <beng at vocalis dot com> writes:

> I encounter one problem...
> 
>     octave: 241> 4777.2^2
>     ans = %.-3f
> 
> Is thsi a bug?

With Octave 2.0.9 (Debian package 2.0.9-1), I get the correct answer:

octave:1> 4777.2^2
ans =  2.2822e+07
octave:2> sqrt(2.2822e+07)
ans = 4777.2

Maybe you have an older version, or it is incorrectly installed.

                                     - Jim Van Zandt