Anything related to the exponentiation operation, i.e. the process of computing the power of a number, and the corresponding syntax, semantics, constraints and implementation in programming languages.
Exponentiation is the process of raising a number to the nth power, (xn). Mathematically, it is denoted by superscripts, where the superscripted number is the exponent - xy.
However, since many text editors do not support superscripts, an alternative notation is used in code that uses exponentiation - typically a caret (x^y) or two asterisks (x**y). Other programming languages do not support symbolic operators for exponentiation, and rely on the pow function to calculate the exponent.
Please remember that the caret notation ^ may be used for bitwise XOR instead, and some languages does not support a built-in exponentiation operator.
See more
- pow: a function that performs exponentiation. Namely,
pow(a, b)calculates ab. - bitwise-xor: do not assume that the
^operator represents exponentiation. Many languages treat the^operator as bitwise-xor instead. - exp: The function ex, base-e exponentiation.
- exponential: Describes a type of curve produced by an exponent. Here, the the base is constant, and the variable is the exponent - and it grows extremely fast.
- Wikipedia article for nore information about exponents and their identities.
