exponentiation

Ultimately from exponent +‎ -ation.^[1] Perhaps from exponential +‎ -ation.

• (General American) enPR: ĕk-spō-nĕn-shē-ā'-shən, IPA^(key): /ˌɛk.spoʊˌnɛn.ʃiˈeɪ.ʃən/

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• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

exponentiation (countable and uncountable, plural exponentiations)

1. (mathematics, arithmetic) The process of calculating a power by multiplying together a number of equal factors, where the exponent specifies the number of factors to multiply.

   In 5⁴ the base is 5 and the power is 4, so there are 4 identical factors of 5, and exponentiation gives 625 as the result.

   • 1998 August 25, Peter Wayner, “IBM Says Encryption System Prevents Hacker Attack”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     "The remarkable fact about the system is that it achieves such a high level of security with only six exponentiations," Boneh said, referring to the calculations used to raise numbers to a power. Other systems do exponentiation once, suggesting that this system may be about six times slower because exponentiation is the most time-consuming step in encrypting the data.

2. (mathematics, arithmetic, countable) A mathematical problem involving exponentiation.
   • 1998 August 25, Peter Wayner, “IBM Says Encryption System Prevents Hacker Attack”, in The New York Times‎^[2]:

     "The remarkable fact about the system is that it achieves such a high level of security with only six exponentiations," Boneh said, referring to the calculations used to raise numbers to a power. Other systems do exponentiation once, suggesting that this system may be about six times slower because exponentiation is the most time-consuming step in encrypting the data.

• succession
• addition
• multiplication
• tetration
• pentation
• hexation

• exponentiate

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exponentiation f (uncountable)

1. exponentiation (process)