Exponent Calculator
Calculate the power of a number by raising a base to an exponent.
Calculate exponents
Expression:
Result:
Scientific notation:
Understanding exponents
An exponent tells you how many times to multiply the base by itself: base^exponent. Positive whole-number exponents are repeated multiplication (2^4 = 2×2×2×2 = 16), a zero exponent always equals 1 (for any nonzero base), negative exponents represent a reciprocal (2^-2 = 1/2² = 0.25), and fractional exponents represent roots (x^0.5 is the same as the square root of x).
Frequently asked questions
What does a negative base with a fractional exponent do? It can produce a result that isn't a real number (for example, the square root of a negative number), so the calculator's result may show "NaN" in those cases — this reflects a genuine mathematical limitation, not an error in the tool.
Why does the result switch to scientific notation? Very large or very small results are shown in scientific notation (e.g., 1.23e+15) to keep them readable, since writing out dozens of digits would be impractical — the exact scientific notation value is always shown alongside the standard result.
What's the difference between exponent and logarithm? They're inverse operations — an exponent answers "what do I get if I raise this base to this power?" while a logarithm answers "what power do I need to raise this base to, to get this result?" See the Log Calculator for the reverse operation.