Is there an exponent operator in C#?

Question

The C# language doesn't have a power operator. However, the .NET Framework offers the Math.Pow method:

Returns a specified number raised to the specified power.

So your example would look like this:

float Result, Number1, Number2;

Number1 = 2;
Number2 = 2;

Result = Math.Pow(Number1, Number2);

I stumbled on this post looking to use scientific notation in my code, I used

4.95*Math.Pow(10,-10);

But afterwards I found out you can do

4.95E-10;

Just thought I would add this for anyone in a similar situation that I was in.

There is a blog post on MSDN about why an exponent operator does NOT exists from the C# team.

It would be possible to add a power operator to the language, but performing this operation is a fairly rare thing to do in most programs, and it doesn't seem justified to add an operator when calling Math.Pow() is simple.

---

You asked:

Do I have to write a loop or include another namespace to handle exponential operations? If so, how do I handle exponential operations using non-integers?

Math.Pow supports double parameters so there is no need for you to write your own.

The lack of an exponential operator for C# was a big annoyance for us when looking for a new language to convert our calculation software to from the good ol' vb6.

I'm glad we went with C# but it still annoys me whenever I'm writing a complex equation including exponents. The Math.Pow() method makes equations quite hard to read IMO.

Our solution was to create a special DoubleX class where we override the ^-operator (see below)

This works fairly well as long as you declare at least one of the variables as DoubleX:

DoubleX a = 2;
DoubleX b = 3;

Console.WriteLine($"a = {a}, b = {b}, a^b = {a ^ b}");

or use an explicit converter on standard doubles:

double c = 2;
double d = 3;

Console.WriteLine($"c = {c}, d = {d}, c^d = {c ^ (DoubleX)d}");     // Need explicit converter

One problem with this method though is that the exponent is calculated in the wrong order compared to other operators. This can be avoided by always putting an extra ( ) around the operation which again makes it a bit harder to read the equations:

DoubleX a = 2;
DoubleX b = 3;

Console.WriteLine($"a = {a}, b = {b}, 3+a^b = {3 + a ^ b}");        // Wrong result
Console.WriteLine($"a = {a}, b = {b}, 3+a^b = {3 + (a ^ b)}");      // Correct result

I hope this can be of help to others who uses a lot of complex equations in their code, and maybe someone even has an idea of how to improve this method?!

DoubleX class:

using System;

namespace ExponentialOperator
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Double class that uses ^ as exponential operator
    /// </summary>
    public class DoubleX
    {
        #region ---------------- Fields ----------------

        private readonly double _value;

        #endregion ------------- Fields ----------------

        #region -------------- Properties --------------

        public double Value
        {
            get { return _value; }
        }

        #endregion ----------- Properties --------------

        #region ------------- Constructors -------------

        public DoubleX(double value)
        {
            _value = value;
        }

        public DoubleX(int value)
        {
            _value = Convert.ToDouble(value);
        }

        #endregion ---------- Constructors -------------

        #region --------------- Methods ----------------

        public override string ToString()
        {
            return _value.ToString();
        }

        #endregion ------------ Methods ----------------

        #region -------------- Operators ---------------

        // Change the ^ operator to be used for exponents.

        public static DoubleX operator ^(DoubleX value, DoubleX exponent)
        {
            return Math.Pow(value, exponent);
        }

        public static DoubleX operator ^(DoubleX value, double exponent)
        {
            return Math.Pow(value, exponent);
        }

        public static DoubleX operator ^(double value, DoubleX exponent)
        {
            return Math.Pow(value, exponent);
        }

        public static DoubleX operator ^(DoubleX value, int exponent)
        {
            return Math.Pow(value, exponent);
        }

        #endregion ----------- Operators ---------------

        #region -------------- Converters --------------

        // Allow implicit convertion

        public static implicit operator DoubleX(double value)
        {
            return new DoubleX(value);
        }

        public static implicit operator DoubleX(int value)
        {
            return new DoubleX(value);
        }

        public static implicit operator Double(DoubleX value)
        {
            return value._value;
        }

        #endregion ----------- Converters --------------
    }
}

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this, but for the simple (and probably most encountered) case of squaring, you just multiply by itself.

float someNumber;

float result = someNumber * someNumber;

Since no-one has yet wrote a function to do this with two integers, here's one way:

private static long CalculatePower(int number, int powerOf)
{
    long result = number;
    for (int i = 2; i <= powerOf; i++)
        result *= number;
    return result;
}

Alternatively in VB.NET:

Private Function CalculatePower(ByVal number As Integer, ByVal powerOf As Integer) As Long
    Dim result As Long = number
    For i As Integer = 2 To powerOf
        result = result * number
    Next
    Return result
End Function
CalculatePower(5, 3) ' 125
CalculatePower(8, 4) ' 4096
CalculatePower(6, 2) ' 36