Exponent and root calculator

The denominator is a root and the numerator is a power: x^(m/k) = (ᵏ√x)^m. So 8^(2/3) takes the cube root of 8, which is 2, and squares it to give 4, while 16^(1/2) = √16 = 4. A decimal exponent works the same way once written as a fraction: 2^0.5 = 2^(1/2) = √2 ≈ 1.41421.

A negative exponent means the reciprocal of the positive power: x⁻ⁿ = 1/xⁿ. So 2⁻³ = 1/2³ = 1/8 = 0.125, and 10⁻² = 0.01. The rule follows from dividing powers, 2³ ÷ 2⁶ = 2³⁻⁶ = 2⁻³. A negative exponent never makes the result negative, and 0 raised to a negative power is undefined because it means dividing by zero.

Split the number into the largest perfect square times what is left, then take the square root of the square. 50 = 25 × 2, so √50 = 5√2 ≈ 7.0711. Higher roots work the same way with perfect cubes, fourth powers and so on: 54 = 27 × 2, so ∛54 = 3∛2. The radical is fully simplified when nothing left under the sign has such a factor, as with √2 or ∛4.

By convention x⁰ = 1 for every x, including 0, because that keeps formulas such as the binomial theorem and the power series eˣ = Σ xⁿ/n! correct at x = 0; Knuth's Concrete Mathematics (§5.1) argues for this definition. As a limit, though, 0⁰ is an indeterminate form: xʸ can approach different values as x and y both approach 0.

Not as a real number, because no real number squared gives −4. Odd roots are different: a negative number cubed stays negative, so ∛(−8) = −2 and the fifth root of −32 is −2. Even roots of negative numbers exist only as complex numbers, √(−4) = 2i, which the complex number calculator handles.

Accuracy depends on your inputs and the method's assumptions. Decimal arithmetic uses 50 significant digits, but estimates, numerical methods and source data can be less precise; the displayed rounding does not remove those limits. It is checked against 9 worked examples whose answers come from independent sources; for example, “8^(2/3)” is checked against ∛8 = 2, 2² = 4 (hand calculation; Python 8 ** (2/3) = 3.9999999999999996).

Khan Academy — Rational exponents and radicals; Wolfram MathWorld — Radical.