AFAICT, if I want to evaluate "a" raised to the power of "b" with the equation parser, I have to write this as: EXP(b * LN(a)) which, I grant, works, but isn't very nice. I would propose something like: a ** b which is something of a de facto standard (FORTRAN, Python, &c.), assuming you're set on using ^ for logical XOR.
The kst equation parser uses '^' for exponentiation, as x^2. It does not have an xor operator.