DAX - Sign Operator Precedence - Exponents.md

DAX - Sign Operator Precedence - Exponents.md

Dax Comparing operator precedence for exponents

Live demo: https://dax.do/k1CMcd5fRbo6ax/

Do these DAX expressions equal the same thing? Or do they differ?

(-10) ^ 2

verses

  -10 ^ 2

Give it a test

-- testing order of operations
-- see: https://dax.guide/operators
--      https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/modules/dax-power-bi-write-formulas/5-operators
define 
    var base    =  6 
    var baseNeg = -6

EVALUATE ( {
    ("a",  -10 * -10 ),     --  100
    
    ("b",    -10 ^ 2 ),     -- -100
    ("b",  (-10) ^ 2 ),     --  100
    
    ("c",    -base ^ 2 ),   --  -36
    ("c",  baseNeg ^ 2 ),   --    6
    ("c", -baseNeg ^ 2 )    --  -36
} )

Note

There's a longer DAX script at the bottom. It was used to make the the screenshot

Results

DAX	Result
-10 * -10	100
-10 ^ 2	-100
(-10) ^ 2	100

DAX	Result
base	6
baseNeg	-6
base ^ 2	36
-base ^ 2	-36
baseNeg ^ 2	36
-baseNeg ^ 2	-36

TL;DR

Yes, they are not the same

Additional links

• operator precedence rules
  • https://dax.guide/operators
  • https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/modules/dax-power-bi-write-formulas/5-operators
• confirmation with wolframalpha: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=-10+**+2

operator-comparison.dax

-- testing order of operations
-- see: https://dax.guide/operators
--      https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/modules/dax-power-bi-write-formulas/5-operators
define 
    var base    =  6 
    var baseNeg = -6

EVALUATE ( {
    ("-10 * -10",     --  100
        -10 * -10 ),     
    
    ("-10 ^ 2",    
        -10 ^ 2 ),    -- -100

    ("(-10) ^ 2",  
        (-10) ^ 2 ),  --  100

    ("base",    base    ),
    ("baseNeg", baseNeg ),

    ("base ^ 2",
        base ^ 2 ),     --  36
    
    ("-base ^ 2",
        -base ^ 2 ),    -- -36

    ("(-base) ^ 2",
        (-base) ^ 2 ),  --  36

    ("baseNeg ^ 2", 
        baseNeg ^ 2 ),  --   6

    ("-baseNeg ^ 2",
        -baseNeg ^ 2 ), -- -36

    ("(-baseNeg) ^ 2",
        (-baseNeg) ^ 2 ) -- 36

} )

z_screenshot.png