In what scenarios is exponentiation commonly used in PHP web development?

Exponentiation is commonly used in PHP web development when calculating mathematical operations, such as calculating compound interest, determining the growth of an investment over time, or performing complex mathematical calculations. It is also used in scenarios where values need to be raised to a power, such as calculating the area of a circle or determining the result of a cryptographic operation.

// Calculate compound interest
$principal = 1000;
$rate = 0.05;
$years = 5;
$compound_interest = $principal * (1 + $rate)**$years;

echo "Compound Interest after $years years: $compound_interest";