c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -MO=Deparse,-p -le "my $i = 5; print (1-1/2000)**$i; print '' . (1-1/2000)**$i; " print (...) interpreted as function at -e line 1. Useless use of exponentiation (**) in void context at -e line 1. BEGIN { $^W = 1; } BEGIN { $/ = "\n"; $\ = "\n"; } use strict 'refs'; (my $i = 5); (print(0.9995) ** $i); print(('' . (0.9995 ** $i))); -e syntax OK c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -le "my $i = 5; print (1-1/2000)**$i; print '' . (1-1/2000)**$i; " print (...) interpreted as function at -e line 1. Useless use of exponentiation (**) in void context at -e line 1. 0.9995 0.997502498750313