We consider the algebra q which is a mild generalization of the quantum algebra Uq(sl 2 ). The algebra q is defined by generators and relations. The generators are {x i } i∈Z 4 , where Z 4 is the cyclic group of order 4. For i ∈ Z 4 the generators x i ,x i+1 satisfy a q-Weyl relation, and x i ,x i+2 satisfy a cubic q-Serre relation. For i ∈ Z 4 we show that the action of x i is invertible on every nonzero finite-dimensional q -module. We view x −1 i as an operator that acts on nonzero finite-dimensional q -modules. For i ∈ Z 4 , define n i,i+1 = q(1 − x i x i+1 )/(q − q −1 ). We show that the action of n i,i+1 is nilpotent on every nonzero finite-dimensional q -module. We view the q-exponential exp q (n i,i+1 ) as an operator that acts on nonzero finitedimensional q -modules. In our main results, for i, j ∈ Z 4 we express each of exp q (n i,i+1 )x j exp q (n i,i+1 ) −1 and exp q (n i,i+1 ) −1 x j exp q (n i,i+1 ) as a polynomial in {x ±1 k } k∈Z 4 .