Re: [libreoffice-users] Awkward behaviour of LO Calc

Unless I'm misremembering my maths  -2² would be +4 and -(2²) would be -4

So in my mind no bug.

Alex

On 29/03/16 09:38, lorieul wrote:
> Hello to all,
>
> I have found a fancy behavior of Calc but I cannot decide whether it is
> a bug or a "feature". Hence I was looking for your advice before posting
> a bug report (if required).
>
>    1. Open LO Calc
>    2. In A1 enter formula "=1-2^2" and press enter key
>       The result shown is -3 which is ok since
>       1-2² = 1-(2²) = 1-4 = -3
>    3. In A2 enter formula "=-2^2" and press enter key
>       I would expect this to be treated as -2² = -(2²) = -4
>       But Calc considers it as (-2)² = +4
>       Quite obviously, a work around is to define the formula as
>       "=-(2^2)" which indeed returns -4
>
> I've checked the wiki page dedicated to operators [1] but it does not
> give much information on operator precedence.
>
>  From my standpoint, both examples show an inconsistent behavior of Calc.
> For me, either we should have both 1-2^2 = 1+4 = 5 and -2^2 = +4
> Or we should have both 1-2^2 = 1-4 = -3 and -2^2 = -4
>
> However, perhaps some of you have a different view point on the matter ?
> In other words, is that a bug or is it perfectly normal ?
>
> Of course changing such behavior will cause a hell lot of trouble in
> existing documents… but perhaps the operator precedence should be
> explicitly specified on the wiki ?
>
> Tested both on LO 5.1.0.3 and on LO 4.2.8.2 (build ID 420m0(Build:2)).
>
> Cheers,
>
> Gaël Lorieul
>
>
> [1] https://help.libreoffice.org/Calc/Operators_in_Calc


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