Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 19, 2024)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365
Bailey noticed that Excel has a function called POWER to raise values to a desired power. She has always used the exponentiation operator (the carat) for this purpose, so she wonders if there is anything that the POWER function does that she cannot do with exponentiation.
Excel often provides different ways to the same task. This seems to be one of those instances, as there is no difference that we could find between using POWER and the exponentiation operator. For instance, both of the following produce an identical result:
=POWER(5,7) =5^7
In both notations, the first number (5) is raised to the second number (7), meaning that 5 is multiplied by itself 7 times. It is essentially a much shorter version of this:
=5*5*5*5*5*5*5
For my usage, I prefer using the exponentiation operator instead of the POWER function; it just "feels right" to me. There is one instance in which you may find using POWER a bit clearer, however, and that is when you are raising a number to a fractional value. Both of the following are equivalent:
=POWER(27,1/3) =27^(1/3)
If you forget to use the parentheses with the exponentiation operator—which I find easy to do—you won't get the answer you expect. So, in this case, it may be clearer to use POWER.
The bottom line is that you can use whichever notation seems easiest to you, as both do the same thing.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (10046) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365.
Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 365 applications with VBA programming. Written in clear terms and understandable language, the book includes systematic tutorials and contains both intermediate and advanced content for experienced VB developers. Designed to be comprehensive, the book addresses not just one Office application, but the entire Office suite. Check out Mastering VBA for Microsoft Office 365 today!
Need to know what day of the year a certain date is? You can figure it out easily using the formulas in this tip.
Discover MoreNeed to figure out if a particular cell contains text? You can use the ISTEXT function to easily return this bit of trivia.
Discover MoreYou may want to use Excel to display dates using a different language than your normal one. There are a couple of ways ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)
Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments