Rookie question about the pow function!

billy's icon

Hi guys,

I just started trying to figure out how to use Max, and need some help with a simple pow function.
Attached is a photo of my patch. I'm trying to have a variable number as the power of 10, however when I change the power number (top left), nothing is displayed in the output number box. Max doesn't seem to be doing the calculation.
I know I'm probably doing something stupid, but if you guys could help me figure out where I've gone wrong I'd appreciate it.

Thanks!

Screen-Shot-2016-10-23-at-21.14.05.png
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Rick's icon
Max Patch
Copy patch and select New From Clipboard in Max.

Roy Rogers best friend

Roman Thilenius's icon

only the first inlet (of almost all objects) will trigger output.

best practice should be to use a trigger object like that:

"2.5"
I
[t b f]
I I
[pow]
I

billy's icon

Thanks guys! That makes more sense now. If I wanted to then route the pow output to another object (e.g. / or *), would I need to use a trigger object again?
Sorry for the stupid questions!

metamax's icon

Billy, check out Max Basic tutorial 6. If you hover the mouse over each inlet, they will turn red for a 'hot' inlet and blue for a 'cold' inlet. Hot inlets cause output. Cold inlets only store values (no output). Max data is also limited to flowing from the top down and right to left.

[trigger] is used to modify the direction of data flow and/or hot/cold orientation. Use it if you want a blue inlet to cause output or something on the right side of your patch to occur after something on the left side. Real world examples of such functionality allow us to do things like open doors before trying to walk through them and pour drinks before attempting to drink them.

Roman Thilenius's icon

of first ask your victim if it is ok before killing it.

billy's icon

Hi guys, thanks for all the help, finally figured it all out!
Nice analogy Roman :)