In Oracle, the EXP() function returns the value of e (the base of natural logarithms) raised to the power of the argument.

The number e, also known as Euler’s number, is a mathematical constant approximately equal to 2.71828.

Syntax

The syntax goes like this:

EXP(n)

Where n is any numeric data type or any nonnumeric data type that can be implicitly converted to a numeric data type.

Example

Here’s an example:

SELECT EXP(5)
FROM DUAL;

Result:

                                     EXP(5) 
___________________________________________ 
   148.413159102576603421115580040552279624

We can get the value of e by passing 1:

SELECT EXP(1)
FROM DUAL;

Result:

                                     EXP(1) 
___________________________________________ 
   2.71828182845904523536028747135266249776

Fractions

The argument can contain a fractional part:

SELECT EXP(3.1434178)
FROM DUAL;

Result:

                              EXP(3.1434178) 
____________________________________________ 
   23.18296635099516749674346410871112767972

Negative Values

The argument can be negative:

SELECT EXP(-5)
FROM DUAL;

Result:

                                        EXP(-5) 
_______________________________________________ 
   0.006737946999085467096636048423148424248801 

Expressions

The argument can include expressions like this:

SELECT EXP(2 * 3)
FROM DUAL;

Result:

                                   EXP(2*3) 
___________________________________________ 
   403.428793492735122608387180543388279609 

Non-Numeric Arguments

The argument can be any numeric data type or any nonnumeric data type that can be implicitly converted to a numeric data type.

Here’s an example of what happens when the argument doesn’t satisfy that criteria:

SELECT EXP('Cat')
FROM DUAL;

Result:

Error starting at line : 1 in command -
SELECT EXP('Cat')
FROM DUAL
Error report -
ORA-01722: invalid number

Null Arguments

EXP() returns null if the argument is null:

SET NULL 'null';

SELECT EXP(null)
FROM DUAL;

Result:

   EXP(NULL) 
____________ 
        null

By default, SQLcl and SQL*Plus return a blank space whenever a null value occurs as a result of a SQL SELECT statement.

However, you can use SET NULL to specify a different string to be returned. Here I specified that the string null should be returned.

Missing Arguments

Calling EXP() with the wrong number of arguments, or without any arguments results in an error:

SELECT EXP()
FROM DUAL;

Result:

Error starting at line : 1 in command -
SELECT EXP()
FROM DUAL
Error at Command Line : 1 Column : 8
Error report -
SQL Error: ORA-00909: invalid number of arguments
00909. 00000 -  "invalid number of arguments"
*Cause:    
*Action:

And:

SELECT EXP(10, 2)
FROM DUAL;

Result:

Error starting at line : 1 in command -
SELECT EXP(10, 2)
FROM DUAL
Error at Command Line : 1 Column : 8
Error report -
SQL Error: ORA-00909: invalid number of arguments
00909. 00000 -  "invalid number of arguments"
*Cause:    
*Action: