IGZ0048W   A negative base was raised to a fractional power in an exponentiation expression in program program-name at displacement displacement. The absolute value of the base was used.

A negative number raised to a fractional power occurred in a library routine. The value of a negative number raised to a fractional power is undefined in COBOL. If a SIZE ERROR clause had appeared on the statement in question, the SIZE ERROR imperative would have been used. However, no SIZE ERROR clause was present, so the absolute value of the base was used in the exponentiation.