title: How raise to power works? Is it worth to use pow(x, 2)?
body: <p>Is it more efficient to do multiplication than raise to power 2 in c++?</p>
  
  <p>I am trying to do final detailed optimizations. Will the compiler treat
  x*x the same as pow(x,2)? If I remember correctly, multiplication was
  better for some reason, but maybe it does not matter in c++11.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks</p>