What potential errors or pitfalls can arise when using mathematical functions like pow() and bcpow() in PHP?

When using mathematical functions like pow() and bcpow() in PHP, potential errors or pitfalls can arise due to precision issues with floating point numbers. To avoid these problems, it is recommended to use the bcmath extension in PHP, which provides arbitrary precision mathematics functions for working with numbers of any size and precision.

// Using bcpow() with arbitrary precision
$num1 = '2';
$num2 = '10';
$precision = 10;

$result = bcpow($num1, $num2, $precision);
echo $result;