Math.pow()

The Math.pow() function returns the base to the exponent power, that is, baseexponent.

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Syntax

Math.pow(base, exponent)

Parameters

base

The base number.

exponent

The exponent used to raise the base.

Return value

A number representing the given base taken to the power of the given exponent.

Description

Because pow() is a static method of Math, you always use it as Math.pow(), rather than as a method of a Math object you created (Math has no constructor).

Examples

Using Math.pow()

// simple
Math.pow(7, 2);    // 49
Math.pow(7, 3);    // 343
Math.pow(2, 10);   // 1024
// fractional exponents
Math.pow(4, 0.5);  // 2 (square root of 4)
Math.pow(8, 1/3);  // 2 (cube root of 8)
Math.pow(2, 0.5);  // 1.4142135623730951 (square root of 2)
Math.pow(2, 1/3);  // 1.2599210498948732 (cube root of 2)
// signed exponents
Math.pow(7, -2);   // 0.02040816326530612 (1/49)
Math.pow(8, -1/3); // 0.5
// signed bases
Math.pow(-7, 2);   // 49 (squares are positive)
Math.pow(-7, 3);   // -343 (cubes can be negative)
Math.pow(-7, 0.5); // NaN (negative numbers don't have a real square root)
// due to "even" and "odd" roots laying close to each other, 
// and limits in the floating number precision, 
// negative bases with fractional exponents always return NaN
Math.pow(-7, 1/3); // NaN 

Demonstrative Implementation

For those who desire to understand how Math.pow might work internally, please view the following code. The below code recursively does multiplication by the pow of two. Do not use the following code to replace Math.pow because the following code will always be slower than Math.pow because Math.pow is implemented natively by the browser. Thus, although the intention of the code below is to demonstate the efficient binary algorithim likely in use under the hood, the code below itself is intented to be educational but not efficient.

function toThePowerOf(number, power) {
    if (power != power || (power != 0 && power == power/2)) {
        // the power is infinity or NaN, so return it
        return power;
    }

    if (power == 1) {
        // base case for numbers without decimals (|n| > 1)
        return number;
    }

    if (power == 0) {
        // base case for decimal-only numbers  (1 > |n| > 0)
        return 1;
    }

    if (power < 0) {
        // negative exponents indicate reciprocal
        return 1 / toThePowerOf(number, -power);
    }

    if (0 < power && power < 2) {
        // The `0 < power` is not really needed because of prior
        //    checked cases
        var hasLeadingOne = false;
        if (Math.floor(power) == 1) {
            // the power is 1.decimal, but not 1
            power = power - 1;
            hasLeadingOne = true;
        } else {
            // the power is only a decimal
            hasLeadingOne = false;
        }

        var doublePower = toThePowerOf(number, power * 2);
        var fullPower = Math.sqrt(doublePower);

        if (hasLeadingOne) {
            // insert the number via multiplication here
            fullPower = fullPower * number;
        }

        return fullPower;
    } else if (getDecimal(power) != 0) {
        // the power is greater than two, but has a decimal
        var wholePower = Math.floor(power);
        var decimalPower = getDecimal(power);
        return toThePowerOf(number, wholePower) * toThePowerOf(number, decimalPower);
    } else {
        var hasTrailingOne = (power % 2) == 1;

        if (hasTrailingOne) {
            power = power - 1;
        }

        // the number is greater than one
        // x^n --> x^floor(n/2)
        var halfPower = toThePowerOf(number, Math.floor(power / 2));

        // x^floor(n/2) -> x^n
        var fullPower = halfPower * halfPower;

        if (hasTrailingOne) {
            // multiply it against the number
            fullPower = fullPower * number;
        }

        return fullPower;
    }
}
function getDecimal(number) {
    if (number < 0) {
        // ensure absolute value
        number = -number;
    }
    return number % 1;
}

Specifications

Browser compatibility

The compatibility table in this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.

See also

• Math.cbrt()
• Math.exp()
• Math.log()
• Math.sqrt()
• Exponentiation operator