POWER
Synopsis
POWER(numeric-expression,power)
{fn POWER(numeric-expression,power)}
Arguments
| Argument | Description |
|---|---|
| numeric-expression | The base number. Can be a positive or negative integer or fractional number. |
| power | The exponent, which is the power to which to raise numeric-expression. Can be a positive or negative integer or fractional number. |
POWER returns either the NUMERIC or DOUBLE data type. If numeric-expression is data type DOUBLE, POWER returns DOUBLE; otherwise, it returns NUMERIC.
Description
POWER calculates one number raised to the power of another. It returns a value with a precision of 36 and a scale of 18.
Note that POWER can be invoked as an ODBC scalar function (with the curly brace syntax) or as an SQL general scalar function.
POWER interprets a non-numeric string as 0 for either argument. For further details, refer to Strings as Numbers. POWER returns NULL if passed a NULL value for either argument.
All combinations of numeric-expression and power are valid except:
POWER(0,-m): a 0 numeric-expression and a negative power results in an SQLCODE -400 error.
POWER(-n,.m): a negative numeric-expression and a fractional power results in an SQLCODE -400 error.
Examples
The following example raises 5 to the 3rd power:
SELECT POWER(5,3) AS Cubed
returns 125.
The following embedded SQL example returns the first 16 powers of 2:
SET a=1
WHILE a<17 {
&sql(SELECT {fn POWER(2,:a)}
INTO :b)
IF SQLCODE'=0 {
WRITE !,"Error code ",SQLCODE
QUIT }
ELSE {
WRITE !,"2 to the ",a," = ",b
SET a=a+1 }
}