Exponent Calculator
Raise a base to any power.
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Formula
Result = base^exponent
Exponentiation means multiplying the base by itself exponent times for positive integer exponents. JavaScript's Math.pow handles fractional and negative exponents too — e.g. 4^0.5 = 2 and 2^(−3) = 1/8.
Worked example
2 raised to the 10th power is 1,024 — that's 2 × 2 × 2 … ten times, a number that shows up constantly in computing (1 KB ≈ 1,024 bytes).
Where this can give the wrong answer
- 0 raised to a non-positive power (0, or any negative exponent) is undefined — the calculator returns an error rather than Infinity.
- Very large bases or exponents can overflow to Infinity — the calculator reports this as an error when the result isn't a finite number.
- Negative bases with fractional exponents (e.g. (−8)^0.5) produce NaN in real arithmetic — the result is undefined because no real number squared equals −8.
FAQ
- b^(−n) = 1 / b^n. So 2^(−3) = 1/8 = 0.125. It's the reciprocal of the positive power — useful for expressing very small quantities in scientific notation.