[Tutor] Question on how to do exponents

[Dave Angel]

On 02/07/2012 01:57 PM, Sarma Tangirala wrote:
> On 8 February 2012 00:01, Steven D'Aprano<steve at pearwood.info>  wrote:
>
>> Sarma Tangirala wrote:
>>
>>   Is is better to use pow() against **?
>>
>> Advantages of **
>>
>> - it is shorter to type x**y vs pow(x, y)
>> - being an operator, it is slightly faster than calling a function
>> - you can't monkey-patch it
>>
>> Disadvantages of **
>>
>> - being an operator, you can't directly use it as a function-object
>> - it can't take three arguments
>> - hard to google for "**"
>> - you can't monkey-patch it
>>
>> Advantages of pow()
>>
>> - it is a function, so you can pass it around as an object
>> - three argument form
>> - easy to call help(pow) to see documentation
>> - easy to google for "pow"
>> - can be monkey-patched
>>
>> Disadvantages of pow()
>>
>> - a tiny bit slower due to the function call
>> - slightly longer to type
>> - can be monkey-patched
>>
>>
>> Weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of each, and make the call which
>> is better for you.
>>
>> (My preference is to use the ** operator.)
>>
>>
> A simple "function call" argument would have done! :D Thanks for the survey!
>
> Anyway, I was wondering about this, if internally pow() actually uses **. :P
>
>
I have no idea, but I'd assume so, unless there's a 3rd argument.   At 
that point, the algorithm must change drastically.

-- 

DaveA