x*x vs Math.pow(x,2) java performance

Question

I have done some testing about whether x*x or Math.pow(x, 2) is faster in Java. I was expecting simple x*x to be somewhat faster, however, it turned out that its about equally fast. Can someone enlighten me, how is that possible, please?

Answer 1

how is that possible, please

Because Math.pow is JVM intrinsic, that is, JIT-compiler inlines the call. Furthermore, when it sees that exponent is a constant 2, it replaces the call with exactly x*x.

Proof from HotSpot sources