The program should print the area of a square with side 5. What does it print, and why? #include int main(void) { int side = 5; int area = side ^ 2; printf("%d\n", area); return 0; }

7 – ^ is bitwise XOR, not exponentiation: 101 ^ 010 = 111

Bitwise Operators · Find the Error · Question 8

Bug: using ^ to square a number in C Answer, explanation & discussion

Question 8 Back to Exercise

The program should print the area of a square with side 5. What does it print, and why?

main.c

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    int side = 5;
    int area = side ^ 2;
    printf("%d\n", area);
    return 0;
}

Correct Answer: Option B

C has no power operator. ^ is XOR: 5 (101) XOR 2 (010) = 7 (111). Write side * side, or pow() from <math.h> for floating-point powers.

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