Re: Possibly related to my post "Unexpected Graph Output"...
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg125472] Re: Possibly related to my post "Unexpected Graph Output"...
- From: Murray Eisenberg <murray at math.umass.edu>
- Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:27:29 -0500 (EST)
- Delivered-to: l-mathgroup@mail-archive0.wolfram.com
- References: <201203140541.AAA25771@smc.vnet.net>
- Reply-to: murray at math.umass.edu
Presumably you're asking about N[(-27)^(1/3)] or (-27.)^(1/3), which
indeed gives the result you show (i.e., with 6 digits displayed, by
default). And not asking about (-27)^(1/3).
The reason is that the answer is correct.
To elaborate: by default, Mathematica deals with complex numbers. And in
particular, the cube-root of a number will be the _principal_ cube root.
Which is what you've shown (in decimal form).
You'll see that this is a numerical version of -3/2 + ((3*I)/2)*Sqrt[3],
and that's the root you'll see, e.g., by evaluating:
ComplexExpand[Solve[z^3 == 27, z]]
Similar questions have been discussed very often in this group.
On 3/14/12 1:41 AM, James Kochanski wrote:
> Why does Mathematica think the cube root of -27 is 1.5 + 2.598076 I and not -3?
>
--
Murray Eisenberg murray at math.umass.edu
Mathematics & Statistics Dept.
Lederle Graduate Research Tower phone 413 549-1020 (H)
University of Massachusetts 413 545-2859 (W)
710 North Pleasant Street fax 413 545-1801
Amherst, MA 01003-9305
- References:
- Possibly related to my post "Unexpected Graph Output"...
- From: James Kochanski <jwkochanski@mymail.vcu.edu>
- Possibly related to my post "Unexpected Graph Output"...