POWER in Collabora Office: Exponents, Growth Factors and Domain Limits

• Introduced: documented by Collabora Office 26.04; the original introduction release is not established.
• Availability: POWER is documented in the official 26.04 Calc Help.
• Scope: desktop Calc documentation; separately deployed Online and mobile versions have not been verified.
• Checked: October 13, 2026, against the official POWER reference. Documentation check; not a native application test. Expected examples are independently calculated.

=POWER(base; exponent)

For ordinary numeric inputs, =POWER(3;4) and =3^4 express the same operation. The function form makes the two arguments visible when a more complicated calculation is being assembled.

An exponent is not a multiplier: POWER(3;4) means four factors of 3, while 3*4 means 12. Parenthesize calculated bases and exponents deliberately when using the operator form.

Enter the first two columns below in A1:B5, with Base and Exponent as headers. The third column lists expected output; do not type it as input. Put =POWER(A2;B2) in C2 and fill down.

A zero exponent returns 1 in these documented Calc semantics. Negative integer exponents produce reciprocals: 2^-3 = 1/(2^3) = 1/8.

For a square with side length 7.5 metres in E2:

=POWER(E2;2)

Expected result: 56.25 square metres. Squaring a quantity also squares its unit. A report should not label the result merely “metres.”

If E2 comes from a measurement, the output’s displayed precision should reflect that measurement. Extra calculated decimal places do not create extra measurement accuracy.

Enter 200 in G2 as a starting quantity, 5% in G3 as a per-period growth rate, and 3 in G4 as the number of periods.

=G2*POWER(1+G3;G4)

Expected result: 231.525. The factor is 1.05^3 = 1.157625. Multiplying the rate by three and adding it once would instead describe a different model.

This is a mathematical growth example, not a promise that a real quantity will grow at a constant rate. Keep the period unit consistent: a monthly rate and a yearly period count cannot be mixed without conversion.

=POWER(81;0.5)

Expected result: 9. A one-half exponent expresses a square root for this positive base. Compare with SQRT if the intent is specifically a nonnegative square root.

For cube roots or other fractional powers of negative numbers, do not extend this positive-base example without checking the documented behavior.

Collabora’s official POWER section explicitly documents POWER(0;0) as 1, and a negative exponent with zero base as a #NUM! error. That convention is a spreadsheet definition for this function; it should not be generalized to every mathematical context involving zero to the zero power.

The same reference warns that negative bases with noninteger exponents may or may not produce an error. It gives a successful POWER(-2;1/3) example and a failing POWER(-2;2/3) example. Do not implement a portable negative-base root rule by assuming all mathematically related fractional exponents behave identically in floating-point software.

For a reproducible operational formula, constrain the inputs to the documented domain you actually need, such as a positive base or an integer exponent. Do not conceal a domain failure with a generic zero fallback.

A result with many decimals may reflect representation and rounding in prior arithmetic. Use an appropriate tolerance when checking a calculated identity rather than testing long decimal strings for equality.

If the result’s sign is unexpected, inspect the base’s parentheses and whether the exponent is odd or even. If the value becomes very large, inspect the exponent and input unit before assuming the function is broken. This article does not establish an overflow threshold or exact overflow error in every Collabora build.

For a native test, record the version, enter the four-row table and verify the growth example. Keep error/domain probes in a separate copy of the workbook. No Collabora execution was performed for this guide.

• Collabora Office 26.04: POWER, checked October 13, 2026.
• Editorial standards.