POWER (Transact-SQL)

Applies to: 👁 Image
SQL Server 👁 Image
Azure SQL Database 👁 Image
Azure SQL Managed Instance 👁 Image
Azure Synapse Analytics 👁 Image
Analytics Platform System (PDW) 👁 Image
SQL analytics endpoint in Microsoft Fabric 👁 Image
Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric 👁 Image
SQL database in Microsoft Fabric

Returns the value of the specified expression to the specified power.

👁 Image
Transact-SQL syntax conventions

Syntax

POWER ( float_expression , y ) 

Arguments

float_expression
Is an expression of type float or of a type that can be implicitly converted to float.

y
Is the power to which to raise float_expression. y can be an expression of the exact numeric or approximate numeric data type category, except for the bit data type.

Return Types

The return type depends on the input type of float_expression:

If the result does not fit in the return type, an arithmetic overflow error occurs.

Examples

A. Using POWER to return the cube of a number

The following example demonstrates raising a number to the power of 3 (the cube of the number).

DECLARE @input1 FLOAT; 
DECLARE @input2 FLOAT; 
SET @input1= 2; 
SET @input2 = 2.5; 
SELECT POWER(@input1, 3) AS Result1, POWER(@input2, 3) AS Result2; 

Here's the result set.

Result1 Result2 
---------------------- ---------------------- 
8 15.625 
 
(1 row(s) affected) 

B. Using POWER to show results of data type conversion

The following example shows how the float_expression preserves the data type which can return unexpected results.

SELECT 
POWER(CAST(2.0 AS FLOAT), -100.0) AS FloatResult, 
POWER(2, -100.0) AS IntegerResult, 
POWER(CAST(2.0 AS INT), -100.0) AS IntegerResult, 
POWER(2.0, -100.0) AS Decimal1Result, 
POWER(2.00, -100.0) AS Decimal2Result, 
POWER(CAST(2.0 AS DECIMAL(5,2)), -100.0) AS Decimal2Result; 
GO 

Here's the result set.

FloatResult IntegerResult IntegerResult Decimal1Result Decimal2Result Decimal2Result 
---------------------- ------------- ------------- -------------- -------------- -------------- 
7.88860905221012E-31 0 0 0.0 0.00 0.00 

C. Using POWER

The following example returns POWER results for 2.

DECLARE @value INT, @counter INT; 
SET @value = 2; 
SET @counter = 1; 
 
WHILE @counter < 5 
 BEGIN 
 SELECT POWER(@value, @counter) 
 SET NOCOUNT ON 
 SET @counter = @counter + 1 
 SET NOCOUNT OFF 
 END; 
GO 

Here's the result set.

----------- 
2 
 
(1 row(s) affected) 
 
----------- 
4 
 
(1 row(s) affected) 
 
----------- 
8 
 
(1 row(s) affected) 
 
----------- 
16 
 
(1 row(s) affected) 

Examples: Azure Synapse Analytics and Analytics Platform System (PDW)

D: Using POWER to return the cube of a number

The following example shows returns POWER results for 2.0 to the 3rd power.

SELECT POWER(2.0, 3); 

Here's the result set.

------------ 
8.0

See Also

decimal and numeric (Transact-SQL)
float and real (Transact-SQL)
int, bigint, smallint, and tinyint (Transact-SQL)
Mathematical Functions (Transact-SQL)
money and smallmoney (Transact-SQL)