"Exponent" redirects here. For other uses, see Exponent (توضيح).
Mathematical operation
Graphs of y = bx for various bases b: base 10, base e, base 2, and base 1/2. Each curve passes through the point (0, 1) because any nonzero number raised to the power of 0 is 1. At x = 1, the value of y equals the base because any number raised to the power of 1 is the number itself.
الأُسُّ في الحساب Power ناتج عدد مضروب في نفسه عددًا محدَّدًا من المرَّات. على سبيل المثال 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 يسمى الأس الخامس للعدد 3 ويكتب ¹3. وفيما يتعلق بـ ¹3 يسمى العدد الأساس والعدد 5 الدليل الأسي. أما الأُسَّين الثاني والثالث لعدد ما فيسميان التربيع ؛ التكعيب . والأس الأول لعدد ما هو العدد ذاته، أما أس الصفر لعدد ما فهو واحد، بمعنى 3 ¥هو 3 و3¤ يكون 1. وينطبق مفهوم الأس أيضًا على الأعداد والكسور السالبة
Exponentiation is a mathematicaloperation, written as bn, involving two numbers, the baseb and the exponent or powern. When n is a positive integer, exponentiation corresponds to repeated multiplication of the base: that is, bn is the product of multiplying n bases:
From the associativity of multiplication, it follows that for any positive integers m and n,
The following identity holds for an arbitrary integer n and nonzero b:
Raising 0 to a negative exponent is undefined, but in some circumstances, it may be interpreted as infinity (∞).
The identity above may be derived through a definition aimed at extending the range of exponents to negative integers.
For non-zero b and positive n, the recurrence relation above can be rewritten as
By defining this relation as valid for all integer n and nonzero b, it follows that
and more generally for any nonzero b and any nonnegative integer n,
This is then readily shown to be true for every integer n.
Identities and properties
The following identities hold for all integer exponents, provided that the base is non-zero:
Unlike addition and multiplication:
Exponentiation is not commutative. For example, 23 = 8 ≠ 32 = 9.
Exponentiation is not associative. For example, (23)4 = 84 = 4096, whereas 2(34) = 281 = 2417851639229258349412352. Without parentheses, the conventional order of operations in superscript notation is top-down (or right-associative), not bottom-up[2] (or left-associative). That is,
For nonnegative integers n and m, the value of nm is the number of functions from a set of m elements to a set of n elements (see cardinal exponentiation). Such functions can be represented as m-tuples from an n-element set (or as m-letter words from an n-letter alphabet). Some examples for particular values of m and n are given in the following table:
nm
The nm possible m-tuples of elements from the set {1, ..., n}
From top to bottom: x1/8, x1/4, x1/2, x1, x2, x4, x8.
An nth root of a numberb is a number x such that xn = b.
If b is a positive real number and n is a positive integer, then there is exactly one positive real solution to xn = b. This solution is called the principal nth root of b. It is denoted n√b, where √ is the radicalsymbol; alternatively, the principal root may be written b1/n. For example: 91/2 = √9 = 3 and 81/3 = 3√8 = 2.
The fact that solves follows from noting that
If n is even and b is positive, then xn = b has two real solutions, which are the positive and negative nth roots of b, that is, b1/n > 0 and −(b1/n) < 0.
If n is even and b is negative, the equation has no solution in real numbers.
If n is odd, then xn = b has exactly one real solution, which is positive if b is positive (b1/n > 0) and negative if b is negative (b1/n < 0).
Taking a positive real number b to a rational exponent u/v, where u is an integer and v is a positive integer, and considering principal roots only, yields
Taking a negative real number b to a rational power u/v, where u/v is in lowest terms, yields a positive real result if u is even, and hence v is odd, because then bu is positive; and yields a negative real result, if u and v are both odd, because then bu is negative. The case of even v (and, hence, odd u) cannot be treated this way within the reals, since there is no real number x such that x2k = −1, the value of bu/v in this case must use the imaginary uniti, as described more fully in the section § Powers of complex numbers.
Thus we have (−27)1/3 = −3 and (−27)2/3 = 9. The number 4 has two 3/2 powers, namely 8 and −8; however, by convention the notation 43/2 employs the principal root, and results in 8. For employing the v-th root the u/v-th power is also called the v/u-th root, and for even v the term principal root denotes also the positive result.
This sign ambiguity needs to be taken care of when applying the power identities. For instance:
is clearly wrong. The problem starts already in the first equality by introducing a standard notation for an inherently ambiguous situation –asking for an even root– and simply relying wrongly on only one, the conventional or principal interpretation. The same problem occurs also with an inappropriately introduced surd-notation, inherently enforcing a positive result: