Expert: Steve Holleran - 5/30/2008

Question
How can I calculate the following on a regular calculator. (one without a "power" button)
1.33 to the .2 power
In other words, 1.33 to the 3rd power would look like 1.33x1.33x1.33=2.352637.
But how do I do that when the power is a decimal?

Answer
Hi Kirk,

Well, if your calculator doesn't even have a power key, you can't do this without using tables of logarithms.

To compute your example, 1.33^(0.2), you'd have to proceed like this:

                      x = 1.33^(0.2)

                 log x = log[1.33^(0.2)]

                 log x = 0.2 * log 1.33

Then, you'd have to have access to a table of logarithms, look up the base 10 log of 1.33 (which is 0.1239) and then you have

                 log x = 0.2 * 0.1239 = 0.02478

and                   x = 10^(0.02478)


Now this can be done using the tables again, but finding the antilog 0.02478

This is a real bear of a technique.  Having access to a Simple scientific calculator would immensely make this easy!

Hope I answered your concern.

Steve