How does the recursion works here?

Question

I've watched videos about the hanoi's tower and i understand the P(n)=2^n-1 but how this apply to this:

function power (base, exponent) {
if (exponent == 0)
return 1;
else
return base * power(base, exponent - 1);
}

it's from eloquent javascript and i'm really stucked on this

p.s.: Explain like i'm 5, thanks in advance for your help c:

Answer 1

Try to expand it on paper whenever you get stuck.

e.g.
power(2, 4)
2 * power(2, 3)
2 * 2 * power(2, 2)
2 * 2 * 2 * power(2, 1)
2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * power(2, 0) // exp is now 0
2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 1
16

Answer 2

Thank you so much yes i tried this but at the moment of doing it that -1 was a bit tricky for me sorry haha