exponentiation

English

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

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

exponentiation (countable and uncountable, plural exponentiations)

(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.
(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.

the process of calculating a power by multiplying together a number of equal factors

mathematical problem involving exponentiation

exponentiation f (uncountable)

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