Python and Powers Math

Question

I\'ve been learning Python but I\'m a little confused. Online instructors tell me to use the operator ** as opposed to ^ when I\'m trying to raise to a certain number. Examp

Answer 1

It's just that ^ does not mean "exponent" in Python. It means "bitwise XOR". See the documentation.

Answer 2

Operator ^ is a bitwise operator, which does bitwise exclusive or.

The power operator is **, like 8**3 which equals to 512.

Answer 3

The symbols represent different operators.

The ^ represents the bitwise exclusive or (XOR).

Each bit of the output is the same as the corresponding bit in x if that bit in y is 0, and it's the complement of the bit in x if that bit in y is 1.

** represents the power operator. That's just the way that the language is structured.