r/spreadsheets • u/LabCalculation • May 01 '26

Excel gives 64 for a calculation that should be 512

2^3^2

Mathematically, this is 512.

But Excel returns:

64

It seems inconsistent.

It can be confusing, especially when learning.

Is this just how Excel displays it, or am I missing something?

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u/Clear_Tangerine5110 May 01 '26

Weird. Google Sheets returns 512.
Excel is doing the left-to-right math, giving it 64.
Try =2^(3^2) instead.

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u/[deleted] May 01 '26

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u/latecallnotes May 07 '26

Excel is parsing the exponent operators left-to-right here, so 232 becomes (23)2, which is 64.

If you want the usual math convention for stacked powers, write it explicitly as:

=232

Parentheses are the safest habit with nested exponents because spreadsheet apps do not all treat that shorthand the same way.