Figure: Alien illustrating fortran style superscripts

Caption: In fortran, exponents are indicated by double asterisks: e.g., 10³ = 10**3.

So ** means "raised to the power of."

Yours truly is phasing out the fortran form ** as quickly as possible, but it will take awhile.

Credit/Permission: © David Jeffery, 2003 / Own work.
Image link: Itself.
Local file: local link: alien_fortran.html.
Short file: Alien images file: alien_fortran_short.html.
File: Alien images file: alien_fortran.html.