Benchmark: Math.pow() vs ** operator

Tests:

Math.pow() - Integer ^ Integer
Math.pow(2, 999)
Math.pow() - Real ^ Integer
Math.pow(1.9, 999)
Math.pow() - Real ^ Real
Math.pow(1.9, 999.1)
** - Integer ^ Integer
2 ** 999
** - Real ^ Integer
1.9 ** 999
** - Real ^ Real
1.9 ** 999.1

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
Math.pow() - Integer ^ Integer
Math.pow() - Real ^ Integer
Math.pow() - Real ^ Real
** - Integer ^ Integer
** - Real ^ Integer
** - Real ^ Real

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.2:3b, generated 29 days ago):

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

Let's dive into the benchmark.

**What is being tested?**

The provided JSON represents two different approaches to raising numbers to powers:

1. **`Math.pow()` function**: This is a built-in JavaScript function that calculates the power of a number. For example, `Math.pow(2, 3)` returns `8`.
2. **`** operator (exponentiation)**: This is a unary operator in JavaScript that raises a number to a power. For example, `2 ** 3` returns `8`.

The benchmark tests the performance of these two approaches with different inputs:

* Integer exponents (`Math.pow()` and `**` with integer values)
* Real exponents (`Math.pow()` and `**` with real numbers)
* Mixed types (e.g., a real number raised to an integer power, or vice versa)

**Options compared**

The benchmark compares the performance of:

1. **`Math.pow()`**: A built-in JavaScript function for raising numbers to powers.
2. **`** operator (exponentiation)`: A unary operator in JavaScript that raises a number to a power.

**Pros and Cons**

* `Math.pow()`: Pros:
	+ Well-established, widely supported, and optimized by browsers.
	+ Can handle arbitrary-precision arithmetic.
	Cons:
	+ May be slower due to its function call overhead.
* `** operator (exponentiation)`: Pros:
	+ Often faster than `Math.pow()` due to the elimination of function call overhead.
	+ More concise and expressive in some cases.

However, it's essential to note that the performance difference between these two approaches can be significant, especially for large exponents. The `-math-pow` test case is designed to measure this difference.

**Special JS feature or syntax**

There isn't any special JavaScript feature or syntax used in this benchmark other than the `** operator (exponentiation)` which is a standard unary operator.

**Library usage**

None of the tests use any external libraries.

**Other alternatives**

While not explicitly tested, alternative approaches to raising numbers to powers could include:

1. **`** operator with a multiplier**: Using multiple `*` operators to achieve exponentiation, e.g., `(2 * 2 * ... * 2)`.
2. **Custom implementation using loops or bitwise operations**: Implementing exponentiation manually using loops or bitwise operations, such as shifting and adding.

However, these alternatives are not tested in this benchmark, and the performance of `Math.pow()` is compared to a native, built-in approach.

Overall, this benchmark provides valuable insights into the performance characteristics of two commonly used approaches to raising numbers to powers in JavaScript.

Latest run results:

Run details: (Test run date: 2 years ago)

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/103.0.5060.53 Safari/537.36 Edg/103.0.1264.37

Browser/OS: Chrome 103 on Windows

View result in a separate tab

Test name	Executions per second
Math.pow() - Integer ^ Integer	6897678.0 Ops/sec
Math.pow() - Real ^ Integer	6784645.0 Ops/sec
Math.pow() - Real ^ Real	6847700.0 Ops/sec
** - Integer ^ Integer	928673920.0 Ops/sec
** - Real ^ Integer	928925440.0 Ops/sec
** - Real ^ Real	928178496.0 Ops/sec

Related benchmarks:

Math.pow() vs ** operator (version: 0)

Comparing performance of: Math.pow() - Integer ^ Integer vs Math.pow() - Real ^ Integer vs Math.pow() - Real ^ Real vs - Integer ^ Integer vs - Real ^ Integer vs ** - Real ^ Real

Created: 2 years ago by: Registered User

Jump to the latest result

Math.pow() - Integer ^ Integer

Math.pow() - Real ^ Integer

Math.pow() - Real ^ Real

** - Integer ^ Integer

** - Real ^ Integer

** - Real ^ Real

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Experimental features:

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.2:3b, generated 29 days ago):

Math.pow() vs ** operator (version: 0)

Comparing performance of: Math.pow() - Integer ^ Integer vs Math.pow() - Real ^ Integer vs Math.pow() - Real ^ Real vs ** - Integer ^ Integer vs ** - Real ^ Integer vs ** - Real ^ Real

Created: 2 years ago by: Registered User

Jump to the latest result

Math.pow() - Integer ^ Integer

Math.pow() - Real ^ Integer

Math.pow() - Real ^ Real

** - Integer ^ Integer

** - Real ^ Integer

** - Real ^ Real

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Experimental features:

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.2:3b, generated 29 days ago):

Comparing performance of: Math.pow() - Integer ^ Integer vs Math.pow() - Real ^ Integer vs Math.pow() - Real ^ Real vs - Integer ^ Integer vs - Real ^ Integer vs ** - Real ^ Real