In this example, you will learn to calculate the power of a number.
To understand this
example, you should have the knowledge of the following C programming topics:
·
C Programming Operators
· C while and do...while Loop
The program below takes two integers from the user (a base
number and an exponent) and calculates the power.
For
example: In the case of 23
·
2 is the base number
·
3 is the exponent
· And, the power is equal to 2*2*2
Power of a Number Using the while Loop
#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
int base, exp;
long double result = 1.0;
printf("Enter a base number: ");
scanf("%d", &base);
printf("Enter an exponent: ");
scanf("%d", &exp);
while (exp != 0) {
result *= base;
--exp;
}
printf("Answer = %.0Lf", result);
return 0;
}
Output
Enter a base number: 3
Enter an exponent: 4
Answer = 81
We can also use the pow() function to calculate the power of a number.
Power Using pow() Function
#include <stdio.h>
#include<math.h>
int main() {
double base, exp, result;
printf("Enter a base number: ");
scanf("%lf", &base);
printf("Enter an exponent: ");
scanf("%lf", &exp);
// calculates the power
result = pow(base, exp);
printf("%.1lf^%.1lf = %.2lf", base, exp, result);
return 0;
}
Output
Enter a base number: 2.3
Enter an exponent: 4.5
2.3^4.5 = 42.44
The programs above can only calculate the power of the base
number if the exponent is positive. For negative exponents, use the following
mathematical logic:
base(-exponent) = 1 / (baseexponent)
For example,
2-3 = 1 / (23)