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In computing, NaN, which stands for Not a Number, is a value or symbol that is usually produced as the result of an operation on invalid input operands, especially in floating-point calculations. For example, most floating-point units are unable to explicitly calculate the square root of negative numbers, and will instead indicate that the operation was invalid and return a NaN result.
NaNs may also be used to represent missing values in table.
Expression | Result |
---|---|
0^0 | 1 |
0/0 | NaN |
sqrt(-1) | NaN |