SOLVED

Power Formula

Copper Contributor

I believe these two formulas should provide the same answer, but they don't.  Can someone please explain why or what I have wrong.  The power formula works fine with whole numbers. 

 

=0.01*2^30 = 10,737,418 --> This one is the correct answer. 

 

=POWER(0.01*2,30) = 1.07E-51

 

Thanks, Nick

2 Replies
best response confirmed by Hans Vogelaar (MVP)
Solution
I think the order of operations may be the issue.
In the first formula, it's equivalent to 0.01 * (2^30).
In the second formula, the equivalent formula is (0.01 * 2) ^ 30.

The effective parentheses are in different spots. If you want the POWER formula to match the first formula, you can do this: =POWER(2, 30)*0.01
Got it. Thanks for the quick reply.
1 best response

Accepted Solutions
best response confirmed by Hans Vogelaar (MVP)
Solution
I think the order of operations may be the issue.
In the first formula, it's equivalent to 0.01 * (2^30).
In the second formula, the equivalent formula is (0.01 * 2) ^ 30.

The effective parentheses are in different spots. If you want the POWER formula to match the first formula, you can do this: =POWER(2, 30)*0.01

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