# pow

(PHP 4, PHP 5)

pow — Exponential expression

### Description

number pow ( number `$base` , number `$exp` )

Returns `base` raised to the power of `exp` .

Warning

In PHP 4.0.6 and earlier pow() always returned a float, and did not issue warnings.

### Parameters

`base`

  The base to use

`exp`

  The exponent

### Return Values

`base` raised to the power of `exp` . If the result can be represented as integer it will be returned as type integer, else it will be returned as type float. If the power cannot be computed `FALSE` will be returned instead.

### ChangeLog

Version | Description
--- | ---
Since 4.0.6 | The function will now return integer results if possible, before this it always returned a float result. For older versions, you may receive a bogus result for complex numbers.
Since 4.2.0 | PHP stops to emit a warning if the value can't be computed, it will now silently return `FALSE` only.

### Examples

Example#1 Some examples of pow()

`<?php
var_dump(pow(2, 8)); // int(256)
echo pow(-1, 20); // 1
echo pow(0, 0); // 1
echo pow(-1, 5.5); // PHP >4.0.6 NAN
echo pow(-1, 5.5); // PHP <=4.0.6 1.#IND
?>`

### See Also

- exp()
- sqrt()
- bcpow()
- gmp_pow()