Exponentiation in PHP

There is also a special operator ** for exponentiation. Let's use it to raise the number 10 to the third power:

php<?php
  echo 10 ** 3; // outputs 1000
?>

Let's raise the value of a variable to a power:

php<?php
  $a = 10;
  echo $a ** 3; // outputs 1000
?>

It might be the case that both the number and the exponent are stored in variables:

php<?php
  $a = 10;
  $b = 3;
  echo $a ** $b; // outputs 1000
?>