What is an exponent?

What is an exponent?

• A. A factor in front of a term.
• B. A base value of a logarithm.
• C. A superscript that indicates how many times to multiply a number by itself.
• D. The result after multiplication.

Answer: (C)

An exponent is a superscript that shows how many times to multiply a number by itself. It tells you the power to raise the base to. For example, 4^3 means 4 multiplied by itself three times: 4 × 4 × 4 = 64. If you see something like, say, 7^1, that’s just 7, since you multiply by itself once. This idea is different from a coefficient, which is a number in front of a term; from the base of a logarithm, which is the number inside the log that’s being raised to a power; and from the product or result of multiplication, which is the value you get after multiplying, not the instruction about how many times to multiply.

An exponent is a superscript that shows how many times to multiply a number by itself. It tells you the power to raise the base to. For example, 4^3 means 4 multiplied by itself three times: 4 × 4 × 4 = 64. If you see something like, say, 7^1, that’s just 7, since you multiply by itself once.

This idea is different from a coefficient, which is a number in front of a term; from the base of a logarithm, which is the number inside the log that’s being raised to a power; and from the product or result of multiplication, which is the value you get after multiplying, not the instruction about how many times to multiply.