Re: exp() versus the POSIX standard

Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>

From: Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
To: pgsql-hackers@lists.postgresql.org
Date: 2020-06-11T23:56:49Z
Lists: pgsql-hackers
I wrote:
> The POSIX standard says this about the exp(3) function:
> 	If x is -Inf, +0 shall be returned.
> At least on my Linux box, our version does no such thing:
> regression=# select exp('-inf'::float8);
> ERROR:  value out of range: underflow

Now that I look, power() has similar issues:

regression=# select power('1.1'::float8, '-inf');
ERROR:  value out of range: underflow
regression=# select power('0.1'::float8, 'inf');
ERROR:  value out of range: underflow
regression=# select power('-inf'::float8, '-3');
ERROR:  value out of range: underflow
regression=# select power('-inf'::float8, '-4');
ERROR:  value out of range: underflow

contradicting POSIX which says

For |x| > 1, if y is -Inf, +0 shall be returned.

For |x| < 1, if y is +Inf, +0 shall be returned.

For y an odd integer < 0, if x is -Inf, -0 shall be returned.

For y < 0 and not an odd integer, if x is -Inf, +0 shall be returned.

			regards, tom lane



Commits

  1. Fix behavior of exp() and power() for infinity inputs.

  2. Fix float4/8 to handle Infinity and Nan consistently, e.g. Infinity is a

  3. Cleanup.