Why is pow(int, int) so slow?
pow() works with real floating-point numbers and uses under the hood the formula pow(x,y) = e^(y log(x)) to calculate x^y. The int are converted to double before calling pow. (log is the natural logarithm, e-based) x^2 using pow() is therefore slower than x*x. Edit based on relevant comments Using pow even with integer exponents may … Read more