Benchmark: Math.pow vs ** vs * on 10^9

Tests:

pow
var tmp = Math.pow(10, 9);
**
var tmp = 10 ** 9;
*
var tmp = 10 * 10 * 10 * 10 * 10 * 10 * 10 * 10 * 10 * 10;

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:

Run details: (Test run date: one year ago)

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/124.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 Edg/124.0.0.0

Browser/OS: Chrome 124 on Windows

View result in a separate tab

Test name	Executions per second
pow	15666375.0 Ops/sec
**	205590832.0 Ops/sec
*	220694544.0 Ops/sec

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

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

Let's dive into the explanation of the provided benchmark.

**Benchmark Overview**

The benchmark measures the performance difference between three different methods to raise a number to a power: `Math.pow()`, exponentiation with two asterisks (`**`), and multiplication with repeated `*`. The test cases are designed to cover the scenarios where the input number is 10 raised to various powers, including large exponents.

**Options Compared**

The benchmark compares three options:

1. **`Math.pow()`**: This method uses a binary search algorithm under the hood to calculate the power. It's a general-purpose function that can be used for both integer and floating-point numbers.
2. **Exponentiation with two asterisks (`**`)**: This is a modern JavaScript feature introduced in ECMAScript 2016 (ES6). It provides a concise way to raise a number to a power using the `**` operator.
3. **Multiplication with repeated `*`**: This approach involves multiplying the input number by itself for each exponent increment.

**Pros and Cons of Each Approach**

1. **`Math.pow()`**:
	* Pros: widely supported, stable, and efficient for most use cases.
	* Cons: may be slower than other methods due to its binary search algorithm (although this difference is usually negligible).
2. **Exponentiation with two asterisks (`**`)**:
	* Pros: concise, readable, and fast execution.
	* Cons: only supported in modern browsers that implement ES6 or later, which might exclude older browser versions.
3. **Multiplication with repeated `*`**:
	* Pros: simple to understand and implement for small exponents.
	* Cons: inefficient for large exponents due to the need for many multiplications.

**Library Used**

There is no explicit library mentioned in the provided benchmark definition or test cases. However, it's worth noting that some JavaScript engines might use libraries under the hood for optimization purposes.

**Special JS Feature or Syntax**

The exponentiation with two asterisks (`**`) syntax is a modern JavaScript feature introduced in ECMAScript 2016 (ES6). This syntax provides a concise and readable way to raise a number to a power, making it easier to write code that's efficient and expressive.

**Alternative Approaches**

Besides the three options mentioned in the benchmark, other approaches could be considered:

1. **`Math.exp()` with logarithm**: Using `Math.exp()` for calculating exponentials can be faster than using binary search or repeated multiplication.
2. **Hand-rolled exponentiation**: Implementing custom exponentiation logic using bitwise operations (e.g., shifting and multiplying by a power of two) can provide optimal performance but requires more code and expertise.

Keep in mind that these alternative approaches might not be as widely supported or readable as the options presented in the benchmark.

Related benchmarks:

Math.pow vs ** vs * on 10^9 (version: 0)

Comparing performance of: pow vs ** vs *

Created: one year ago by: Guest

Jump to the latest result

pow

**

*

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

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