PHP Manual: pow

Description

function pow(mixed $num, mixed $exponent): int|float|object

Returns num raised to the power of exponent.

Note:
It is possible to use the ** operator instead.

Parameters

num: The base to use
exponent: The exponent

Return Values

num raised to the power of exponent. If both arguments are non-negative integers and the result can be represented as an integer, the result will be returned with int type, otherwise it will be returned as a float.

PHP-Extensions may override the behaviour of this operation and make it return an object.

Changelog

Version	Description
8.4.0	Raising `0` to a negative `exponent` is now deprecated.

Examples

Example #1 Some examples of pow()

<?php

var_dump(pow(2, 8)); // int(256)
echo pow(-1, 20), PHP_EOL; // 1
echo pow(0, 0), PHP_EOL; // 1
echo pow(10, -1), PHP_EOL; // 0.1

echo pow(-1, 5.5), PHP_EOL; // NAN
?>

Example #2 Examples of pow() With GMP Extension Object

<?php
var_dump(pow(new GMP("3"), new GMP("2"))); // object(GMP)
?>

Notes

Note:
This function will convert all input to a number, even non-scalar values, which could lead to weird results.

pow