Benchmark: Math.pow vs ** vs * version 2

Script Preparation code:

var result = 0

Tests:

pow
var tmp = Math.pow(6, 21); result ^= tmp;
**
var tmp = 6 ** 21; result ^= tmp;
*
var tmp = 6 * 6 * 6 * 6 * 6 * 6 * 6 * 6 * 6 * 6 * 6 * 6 * 6 * 6 * 6 * 6 * 6 * 6 * 6 * 6 * 6; result ^= tmp;

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
pow
**
*

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Latest run results:

No previous run results

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Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.2:3b, generated one year ago):

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

**What is being tested?**

The benchmark measures the performance of three different methods to calculate the power of a number:

1. `Math.pow` (pow): The built-in JavaScript function that raises one number to another.
2. Exponentiation with two asterisks ( ** ): A shorthand operator introduced in ECMAScript 2016, which represents exponentiation.
3. Multiplication for multiplication ( * version 2): In JavaScript, the multiplication operator is often used as a shorthand for repeated multiplication.

**Options compared**

The benchmark compares the performance of these three methods on the same test case: calculating `6^21`. The results are measured in terms of **Executions Per Second**, which indicates how many times each method can execute within a second.

**Pros and Cons of each approach:**

1. **Math.pow (pow)**:
	* Pros: Well-established, widely supported, and familiar to most developers.
	* Cons: May incur more overhead due to its built-in nature, potentially slower than optimized alternatives.
2. **Exponentiation with two asterisks ( ** )**:
	* Pros: Recently introduced standard, which may lead to better optimization by modern browsers and engines. Shorter code for the same calculation.
	* Cons: Less well-established and supported compared to `Math.pow`, might not work in older JavaScript versions or environments.
3. **Multiplication for multiplication ( * version 2)**:
	* Pros: Efficient, as it leverages the existing multiplication operator, potentially faster than `Math.pow` and the shorthand operator.
	* Cons: Less readable, as it requires multiple multiplications to achieve the desired result.

**Other considerations**

* The test cases use a simple calculation to focus on the performance differences between these methods. More complex calculations might reveal different optimization strategies or nuances in JavaScript engine behavior.
* The benchmark uses Chrome 112 and Mac OS X 10.15.7 as the base platform, which may limit its generalizability across other browsers, operating systems, or environments.

**Libraries used**

None are explicitly mentioned in the provided code snippets.

**Special JS features or syntax**

The exponentiation shorthand operator (` **`) is a relatively recent addition to JavaScript (introduced in ECMAScript 2016), and it's not widely supported by older browsers or engines.

Related benchmarks:

Math.pow vs ** vs * version 2 (version: 0)

Updated to prevent VM optimizations to remove the functions

Comparing performance of: pow vs ** vs *

Created: 3 years ago by: Registered User

Jump to the latest result

pow

**

*

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

No previous run results

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.2:3b, generated one year ago):