這點我也很好奇
COBOL寫x ^ y(x自乘y次)寫法令人麻煩之外
e ** (y * ln(x) )

如果是bitwise運算其過程更是令人髮指
我貼上一個網址有各種語言的範例
http://rosettacode.org/wiki/Bitwise_operations

其中COBOL的語法看起來會殘害大腦所剩不多的智慧了
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. bitwise-ops.

DATA DIVISION.
LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION.
01 a PIC 1(32) USAGE BIT.
01 b PIC 1(32) USAGE BIT.

01 result PIC 1(32) USAGE BIT.
01 result-disp REDEFINES result PIC S9(9) COMP.

LINKAGE SECTION.
01 a-int USAGE BINARY-LONG.
01 b-int USAGE BINARY-LONG.

PROCEDURE DIVISION USING a-int, b-int.
MOVE FUNCTION BOOLEAN-OF-INTEGER(a-int, 32) TO a
MOVE FUNCTION BOOLEAN-OF-INTEGER(b-int, 32) TO b

COMPUTE result = a B-AND b
DISPLAY "a and b is " result-disp

COMPUTE result = a B-OR b
DISPLAY "a or b is " result-disp

COMPUTE result = B-NOT a
DISPLAY "Not a is " result-disp

COMPUTE result = a B-XOR b
DISPLAY "a exclusive-or b is " result-disp

*> COBOL does not have shift or rotation operators.