Exponentiation
Binary ** is the exponentiation
operator. Note that it binds even more tightly than unary minus, so
-2**4 is -(2**4), not
(-2)**4. The operator is implemented using C's
pow (3) function, which works with
floating-point numbers internally. It calculates using logarithms,
which means that it works with fractional powers, but you sometimes
get results that aren't as exact as a straight multiplication would
produce.
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