Matlab is inconsistent when raising numbers to the zero'th power:

In matlab R2015a

-1^0

returns

-1

but

a = -1 ; a^0

returns

1

wolfram alpha agrees that -1^0 = -1, but I believe that everybody else says that x^0 = 1, for all x not equal to 0.

The -1^0 = -1 appears to be a bug? But it's hard to believe that Mathematica has exactly the same bug!

Answer 1

[John D'Errico]

What you apparently misunderstand is the idea of operator precedence.

There is a difference between these two operations:

-1^0
ans =
    -1

and

(-1)^0
ans =
     1

What you need to recognize is that ^ operates before the unary minus operator. Once you recognize that, you recognize it is not a bug, but a design question, and one that makes some sense.

You are not the first person to trip over it though. I've seen this question asked before. :)

[Leo Simon]

Thanks! Obvious ex post. Expected it had been asked before, but I searched the forum and found nothing.

[Stephen23]

Why search the forum? Once again actually reading the documentation would have been a good step:

http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_prog/operator-precedence.html