The operator ^ is undefined for arguments

Question

(((difference - previousStep)/1000)^2)
//difference and previousStep are both doubles

Why can't I use the ^ operator with doubles? I just want to know why. Luckily for me I can just multiple difference - previousStep by itself because i'm just squaring it, but if i need to bring it to the Nth power, then this would be a problem. So why can't you ^ doubles and is there a way around this?

The caret (^) operator is explained in another SO question [^ operator in java][1] [1]: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/460542/operator-in-java — user3681234, May 28 '14 at 02:31

score 10 · Accepted Answer · answered May 28 '14 at 01:35

10

The ^ operator isn't the exponentiation operator in Java; it's the bitwise XOR operator, which doesn't make much sense with double arguments.

You can either multiply the value by itself or you can call Math.pow(yourValue, 2) for exponentiation.

answered May 28 '14 at 01:35

rgettman

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Victor2748 · Answer 2 · 2014-05-28T22:11:21.460

0

There operator ^ is not used for exponents in Java, please use Math.pow(((difference - previousStep)/1000), 2) instead

edited May 28 '14 at 22:11

answered May 28 '14 at 01:37

Victor2748

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There is a `^` operator. It's just not exponentiation. – user2357112 May 28 '14 at 01:37

The operator ^ is undefined for arguments

2 Answers2