Syntax: Exponents

Exponents in Python

The next math operator to learn about is the exponentiation (**) operator. As you can probably guess, the exponentiation (**) operator is used to raise one numeric value to the power of another. Typical syntax usage for the addition operator are as follows:

1. What raising one numeric value to the power of another:

     power = 5 ** 3
   

2. When using one variable to raise one numeric value to the power of another:

     base = 7
     power = base ** 5
   

3. When using two variables to raise one numeric value to the power of another:

     base = 5
     exponent = 5
     power = base ** exponent
   

Practice: Float Exponentiation

Based on the above information, please complete the following steps:

1. Define a variable named same_side_length, and assign it 2.1.
2. Define a variable named opposite_side_length, and assign it 2.8.
3. Define a variable named hypotenuse_length and, using operators (including exponentiation) and the variables above, assign it the length of the hypotenuse of the right-triangle above.
4. Print the value contained in the hypotenuse_length variable.
   • Note: if it's been a while since you calculated the hypotenuse of a right triangle, check out the formula here.

> 3.5

same_side_length = 2.1
opposite_side_length = 2.8
hypotenuse_length = (same_side_length ** 2.0 + opposite_side_length ** 2.0) ** 0.5
print(hypotenuse_length)

When you have completed the above, you are ready to move on to the next exercise!