Exponent Calculator

An exponent tells you how many times to multiply a base by itself. In b^n, b is the base and n is the exponent (also called the power). For example, 2^5 = 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 32.

A negative exponent flips the result into a reciprocal. 2^-3 equals 1 / 2^3 = 1/8 = 0.125. The base moves to the denominator and the exponent becomes positive, so when the base is greater than 1 the result lands between 0 and 1.

A fractional exponent represents a root. b^(1/n) is the n-th root of b, so 27^(1/3) = 3 because 3^3 = 27. More generally, b^(m/n) is the n-th root of b raised to the m-th power, so 8^(2/3) = (cube root of 8)^2 = 2^2 = 4.

As a standalone real-number expression, 0^0 is often left undefined, while combinatorics commonly defines it as 1. In limits, expressions of the form 0^0 are indeterminate because different approaches can give different limits. This calculator follows JavaScript's exponentiation behavior and returns 1.

Exponents appear in compound interest (A = P x (1 + r)^n), population growth, radioactive decay, computer storage (1 KiB = 2^10 = 1,024 bytes), and scientific notation for very large or very small quantities like the distance to the sun (1.496 x 10^11 meters).