small mistake function power(x, n) { if n == 1 return x; // Even numbers else if (n%2 == 0) return square( power (x, n/2)); // Odd numbers else return power(x, n-1) * x; }

double Power(int x, int y) { double ret = 1; double power = x; while (y > 0) { if (y & 1) { ret *= power; } power *= power; y >>= 1; } return ret; }

# Solution for x ^ n with negative values of n as well. def square(x): return x * x def power(x, n): if x in (0, 1): return x if n == 0: return 1 if n < 0: x = 1.0 / x n = abs(n) # Even number if n % 2 == 0: return square(power(x, n/2)) # Odd number else: return x * power(x, n - 1) print ("0 ^ 0 = " + str(power(0, 0))) print ("0 ^ 1 = " + str(power(0, 1))) print ("10 ^ 0 = " + str(power(10, 0))) print ("2 ^ 2 = " + str(power(2, 2))) print ("2 ^ 3 = " + str(power(2, 3))) print ("3 ^ 3 = " + str(power(3, 3))) print ("2 ^ 8 = " + str(power(2, 8))) print ("2 ^ -1 = " + str(power(2, -1))) print ("2 ^ -2 = " + str(power(2, -2))) print ("2 ^ -8 = " + str(power(2, -8)))

for x in range(1,5,1): print(x**x)

If the power is not integer, use ln and Taylor series

If I'm the interviewer, none of above answers is acceptable. What if y < 0? what if y < 0 and x == 0? I'm seeing an endless recursion that will eventually overflow the stack, and the none-recursive one just simply returns 1.

There is a way to do this in a logN way rather than N. function power(x, n) { if n == 1 return x; // Even numbers else if (n%2 == 0) return square( power (x, n/2)); // Odd numbers else return power(x, n-1); } This is from Programming pearls.. interesting way.

Because it uses dynamic programming and is lots more efficient than your algorithm.

pretty trivial...