on my elc i get: splode ~> time sh -c 'echo "2^8192" | bc > /dev/null' 2.544u 0.182s 0:02.97 91.5% 0+0k 11+0io 0pf+0w oh yeah, i'm running -current (from a couple of weeks ago... it's a bit hard to upgrade and be safe remotely on a ppp link.. :-) .mrg.