question: public double adjustedPow10 ( double val ) { boolean negFlag = ( val < 0.0 ) ; if ( negFlag ) { val = - val ; } double res ; if ( val < 1.0 ) { res = ( Math . pow ( 10 , val + 1.0 ) - 10.0 ) / 9.0 ; } else { res = Math . pow ( 10 , val ) ; } return negFlag ? ( - res ) : res ; }
target:  Returns an adjusted power of 10 value for graphing purposes.  The first adjustment is that negative values are changed to positive during the calculations, and then the answer is negated at the end.  The second is that, for values less than 1, a progressive logarithmic offset is subtracted such that at 0 the returned result is also 0.