In programming notation, what does the operator ** represent?

In programming notation, what does the operator ** represent?

• A. Exponentiation
• B. Multiplication
• C. Addition
• D. Modulo

Answer: (A)

In programming notation, the ** operator is exponentiation, which raises the left-hand value to the power of the right-hand value. For example, 3 ** 2 computes 3 squared, giving 9, and 2 ** 4 gives 16. This is different from multiplication (*), addition (+), or modulo (%). In languages like Python and Ruby, ** is used for power, though some other languages use different symbols or a pow() function. Remember that exponentiation often happens before other operations, so 2 * 3 ** 2 = 2 * (3 ** 2) = 18.

In programming notation, the ** operator is exponentiation, which raises the left-hand value to the power of the right-hand value. For example, 3 ** 2 computes 3 squared, giving 9, and 2 ** 4 gives 16. This is different from multiplication (*), addition (+), or modulo (%). In languages like Python and Ruby, ** is used for power, though some other languages use different symbols or a pow() function. Remember that exponentiation often happens before other operations, so 2 * 3 ** 2 = 2 * (3 ** 2) = 18.