Exponentiation operator (**) in JavaScript

Last updated on April 12, 2017

The exponentiation operator was introduced in ECMAScript 2016, ** is used to denote this operator. It accepts base on its left-hand side and exponent on its right-hand side, respectively.

Syntax

 var1 ** var2

Prior to exponentiation operator(**) we used to use the Math.pow(var1, var2) function to return the base to the exponent power, both exponentiation operator and math.pow methods produces same results.

Math.pow(2, 2); // 4
// same as: 2 * 2
Math.pow(2, 3); // 8
// same as: 2 * 2 * 

Examples

// x ** y
let squared = 2 ** 2; // 4
// same as: 2 * 2

let cubed = 2 ** 3; // 8
// same as: 2 * 2 * 2

let num = 3;
num **= 2; // 3
// same as: 3 * 3 

let x = 3;
x **= 4; // 81
// same as: 3 * 3 * 3 * 3

let x = 2**3**2; // 512
// same as: 2**(3**2) or 2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2