Raise a base to the given exponent.
POW(base, exponent)## Overview Returns the base raised to the given exponent. POW is the general-purpose exponentiation primitive: squaring, cubing, extracting roots, computing compound interest factors, and evaluating polynomial features all funnel through POW. POW is equivalent to POWER; the two names are interchangeable. For integer-power special cases (squaring, cubing), the engine may optimize internally, but the result type is always DOUBLE for safety across fractional exponents. ## Behavior - Accepts any finite DOUBLE for both arguments. - Returns a DOUBLE. - Returns NULL if either argument is NULL. - POW(x, 0) returns 1 for any x (including 0 in most engines, although this is mathematically a convention). - POW(0, positive_exponent) returns 0. - POW(0, negative_exponent) is mathematically undefined and typically returns NULL or positive infinity. - POW of a negative base with a non-integer exponent returns NaN or NULL because the real cube-root-style generalization does not apply. ## Numeric precision - Uses the IEEE 754 double-precision pow routine. - Accumulates more rounding error than a native multiplication chain for integer exponents; for squaring, use x * x instead of POW(x, 2) in tight numeric loops. - Overflows to infinity for very large results (for example, POW(2, 1024)) and underflows to 0 for very small results. - Fractional exponents that are not exactly representable in DOUBLE (such as 1.0/3.0) produce small rounding residues in the output. ## Compatibility - Conforms to the SQL standard scalar function POWER. POW is the shorthand. - Matches typical mathematical library implementations.
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
base | Specifies the base value. Accepts any finite DOUBLE. Negative bases with non-integer exponents are mathematically complex and typically return NaN or NULL. | |
exponent | Specifies the exponent. Accepts any finite DOUBLE, including negative and fractional values. Very large magnitudes may cause overflow or underflow. |
-- Basic literal: 2 raised to the 10th power
SELECT POW(2, 10);
-- Result: 1024.0-- Square root via exponent 0.5
SELECT POW(9, 0.5);
-- Result: 3.0-- Negative exponent yields reciprocal
SELECT POW(2, -3);
-- Result: 0.125-- Any value raised to 0 is 1
SELECT POW(42, 0);
-- Result: 1.0-- Edge case: 0 to a negative power is mathematically undefined
SELECT POW(0, -1);
-- Result: NULL or Infinity depending on engine-- Negative base with integer exponent is well-defined
SELECT POW(-2, 3);
-- Result: -8.0