Cannot use ldegree() on symbolic expressions with non-integer exponents

[Jason Lewis]

I'm a bit confused.  The following code won't work:

> symbols

octave-3.2.3.exe:42:C:\Octave\3.2.3_gcc-4.4.0\bin

> x=sym("x")

x =

x

octave-3.2.3.exe:43:C:\Octave\3.2.3_gcc-4.4.0\bin

> y=x^2+9

y =

9.0+x^(2.0)

octave-3.2.3.exe:44:C:\Octave\3.2.3_gcc-4.4.0\bin

> ldegree(y,x)

error: power::ldegree(): undefined degree because of non-integer exponent

octave-3.2.3.exe:44:C:\Octave\3.2.3_gcc-4.4.0\bin

...but if I change the input as follows, it works fine:

> y=x*x+9

y =

9.0+x^2

octave-3.2.3.exe:45:C:\Octave\3.2.3_gcc-4.4.0\bin

> ldegree(y,x)

ans =

0.0

Why does x^2 become x^2.0 and x*x become x^2?  How do I fix this problem?

Thanks,

Jason