# Math operation known issue? a^b

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/math-operation-known-issue-a-b/38839>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Tags:** question, special-issue, math, integer-overflow\
**Created:** [May 5, 2020, 10:17pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/math-operation-known-issue-a-b/38839 "2020-05-05T22:17:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 2

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**Author:** ![mauro3](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mauro3/32/292_2.png) [@mauro3](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mauro3)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2020, 10:21pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/math-operation-known-issue-a-b/38839/2 "2020-05-05T22:21:57Z")

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No, this is expected. It’s called integer overflow. Once you reach the highest representable number it wraps around to the lowest. This is how integer works on computers.

If you use floats instead it works:

```julia
julia> 20.0^20
1.048576e26

```

(although floats have their own set of issues: [PSA: floating-point arithmetic](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/psa-floating-point-arithmetic/8678))

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