Variable Before Calling an Anonymous Function in PHP

Let's consider the following code:

php<?php
  $pow = 2;
  
  $func = function($num) use ($pow)
  {
    return $num ** $pow;
  };
  
  echo $func(4);
?>

The code above works, because the variable $pow is written before the function declaration. However, if we place the variable declaration before the function call, it will stop working:

php<?php
  $func = function($num) use ($pow)
  {
    return $num ** $pow;
  };
  
  $pow = 2;
  echo $func(4);
?>

The problem can be fixed by passing the variable by reference:

php<?php
  $func = function($num) use (&$pow)
  {
    return $num ** $pow;
  };
  
  $pow = 2;
  echo $func(4);
?>

php<?php
  $func = function() use ($num1, $num2)
  {
    return $num1 + $num2;
  };
  
  $num1 = 2;
  $num2 = 3;
  echo $func();
?>