I'm using Mathematica 8.0.4 on Mac OS X and am having a funny problem with Plot that seems pretty basic and was wondering if people might try this on newer versions of Mathematica or know why it doesn't work:
Plot[1/(x^2-1)^(4/5),{x,-2.2}]
it does not show anything between x=(-1 to +1). If you write the exponential using the n'th root style (completely equivalent mathematically) it works fine and shows the center portion of the curve fine. There are no imaginary vs real issues since the function is always real and defined everywhere except at x equal +1 and -1, but yet the entire central portion is completely missing.
I just tried this same function on Wolfram Alpha site and it too does not properly graph the center part of the function either so would guess that current versions of Mathematica also have this problem.
Any idea why in the world would something so completely basic as this gives Plot fits?
Thanks ...
ps - I'm attaching a couple of images showing the non-working and working versions
pps - the problem still shows if I leave off the PlotRange option