what's the point of pow()?

[richyjsm at gmail.com]

it's a serious question:  why does the builtin pow function exist?

for two argument pow we've got **.  there's no add() for + or mul()
for *....

and three argument pow-with-modulo seems like specilaist usage that
belongs in the standard lib, not in the core.  I know about crypto and
number theory uses.  are there others?

it's obviously useful for something or else it would be slated for
removal in python 3000, surely?

Richard