Programming in Lua : 3.1

Part I. The Language Chapter 3. Expressions

3.1 - Arithmetic Operators

Lua supports the usual arithmetic operators: the binary `+´ (addition), `-´ (subtraction), `*´ (multiplication), `/´ (division), and the unary `-´ (negation). All of them operate on real numbers.

Lua also offers partial support for `^´ (exponentiation). One of the design goals of Lua is to have a tiny core. An exponentiation operation (implemented through the pow function in C) would mean that we should always need to link Lua with the C mathematical library. To avoid this need, the core of Lua offers only the syntax for the `^´ binary operator, which has the higher precedence among all operations. The mathematical library (which is standard, but not part of the Lua core) gives to this operator its expected meaning.