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** (power)

operator

Library: Floating point number support (OMFLOAT)
Import : omfloat.xmd
Library: Binary coded decimal (BCD) numbers (OMBCD)
Import : ombcd.xmd

Returns: The BCD or floating point number raised to the power "y", or the integer, string, or numeric-literal raised to the power "y". The first argument must be greater than 0 if the second argument is either equal to or less than zero, or not an integer.


Declaration 
numeric-expression ** numeric-expression


Purpose

You can use the ** operator to raise a number to any given power.

To raise a BCD number to a power, you must import the ombcd.xmd file in your program. To raise a floating point number, import the omfloat.xmd file.

The following code shows how to use ** to calculate the future value of a single amount, expressed by the equation:

BCD Example:


  import "ombcd.xmd" unprefixed
  process
      local bcd Principal initial {1000}
      local bcd InterestRate initial {0.09}
      local bcd Time initial {3}
      local bcd FutureValue
      local bcd RoundValue
  
      set FutureValue to Principal * (1 + InterestRate) ** Time
      set RoundValue to round FutureValue bankers-nearest 0.01
      output "future amount is " || "d" % RoundValue || "%n"

Floating Point Example:


  import "omfloat.xmd" unprefixed
  process
      local float Principal initial {1000}
      local float InterestRate initial {0.09}
      local float Time initial {3}
      local float FutureValue
      local float RoundValue
  
      set FutureValue to Principal * (1 + InterestRate) ** Time
      set RoundValue to round FutureValue by 0.01
      output "future amount is " || "d" % RoundValue || "%n"

If the principal is $1000, the interest rate 9 percent, and the time 3 years, the result would be a future amount of $1295.03.

Related Topics
Other Library Functions