Re: Exponentiation confusion

Dean Rasheed <dean(dot)a(dot)rasheed(at)gmail(dot)com> writes:
> The most obvious thing to do is to try to make power_var_int() choose
> the same result rscale as power_var() so that the results are
> consistent regardless of whether the exponent is an integer.

Yeah, I think we should try to end up with that.

> It's worth noting, however, that that will cause in a *reduction* in
> the output rscale rather than an increase in some cases, since the
> power_var_int() code path currently always chooses an rscale of at
> least 16, whereas the other code path in power_var() uses the rscales
> of the 2 inputs, and produces a minimum of 16 significant digits,
> rather than 16 digits after the decimal point.

Right. I think this is not bad though. In a lot of cases (such
as the example here) the current behavior is just plastering on
useless zeroes.

regards, tom lane