You can use repeated modulus of smaller numbers.
say you have
(a * b) % n
((A * n + AA) * (B * n + BB)) % n | AA = a %n & BB = b % n
(A * B * n^2 + A * N * BB + AA * B * n + AA * BB) % n
AA * BB % n since x * n % n == 0
(a % n) * (b % n) % n
In your case, you can write
48^26 % 2401
(48^2) ^ 13 % 2401
as
int n = 48;
for (int i = 1; i < 26; i++)
n = (n * 48) % 2401;
System.out.println(n);
int n2 = 48 * 48;
for (int i = 1; i < 13; i++)
n2 = (n2 * 48 * 48) % 2401;
System.out.println(n2);
System.out.println(BigInteger.valueOf(48).pow(26).mod(BigInteger.valueOf(2401)));
prints
1128
1128
1128
As @Ruchina points out, your example is small enough to calculate using a simple double expression.
for (int i = 1; i < 100; i++) {
BigInteger mod = BigInteger.valueOf(48).pow(i).mod(BigInteger.valueOf(2401));
double x = Math.pow(48, i) % 2401;
if (mod.intValue() != x) {
System.out.println(i + ": " + mod + " vs " + x);
break;
}
}
prints
34: 736 vs 839.0
In other words, any power of 48 is fine up to 33.