C Program to Calculate the Power of a Number

In this example, you will learn to calculate the power of a number.

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To understand this example, you should have the knowledge of the following C programming topics:

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 
int main() {
    int base, exp;
    long long result = 1;
    printf("Enter a base number: ");
    scanf("%d", &base);
    printf("Enter an exponent: ");
    scanf("%d", &exp);

    while (exp != 0) {
        result *= base;
        --exp;
    }
    printf("Answer = %lld", result);
    return 0;
}

Output

Enter a base number: 3
Enter an exponent: 4
Answer = 81

The above technique works only if the exponent is a positive integer.

If you need to find the power of a number with any real number as an exponent, you can use the pow() function.

Power Using pow() Function

#include 
#include 

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