diff --git a/pymbolic/algorithm.py b/pymbolic/algorithm.py
index 15ba66081aef178c89a4010f22550f09984552ed..5c3dee32f6f375c5af09c6827f208e310702cbc9 100644
--- a/pymbolic/algorithm.py
+++ b/pymbolic/algorithm.py
@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@ def integer_power(x, n, one=1):
         x = x * x
         n //= 2
 
+    return aux
+
 # }}}
 
 
diff --git a/test/test_pymbolic.py b/test/test_pymbolic.py
index 2cb1be296cf4f945abc4a6dcf39ed8601ad44a7d..ca83b7225f4abbd3be973dc47fd930390eb7b197 100644
--- a/test/test_pymbolic.py
+++ b/test/test_pymbolic.py
@@ -33,6 +33,18 @@ except NameError:
     from functools import reduce
 
 
+def test_integer_power():
+    from pymbolic.algorithm import integer_power
+
+    for base, expn in [
+            (17, 5),
+            (17, 2**10),
+            (13, 20),
+            (13, 1343),
+            ]:
+        assert base**expn == integer_power(base, expn)
+
+
 def test_expand():
     from pymbolic import var, expand