From: ptkwt@... (Phil Tomson)
Date: 2004-04-23T15:54:10+09:00
Subject: log base 2 and floats that don't look it

2 things:

1) Why isn't there a log base 2 function in the standard Math library?  
Seems pretty essential.

....which leads to:

2) I found a log2 function in the Extmath lib from the RAA, but it seems 
to return a Float that looks like a Fixnum:

irb(main):004:0> require 'extmath'
=> true
irb(main):005:0> Extmath.log2 8
=> 3
irb(main):006:0> x = Extmath.log2 8
=> 3
irb(main):007:0> x.class
=> Float   #if it were a float, I would expect to see 3.0 not 3 !
irb(main):008:0> x.to_i
=> 2


So Extmath.log2 8 returns 3, but it's really a Float so it should be 3.0, 
how can 3 be a Float?  I'm confused, but at least now I know why my code 
which was using this log2 function isn't working.

And to add insult to injury, to_i appears to turn 3 into 2.  What gives?

Phil