The operation of raising to a power. Repeated multiplication of a quantity x by itself n times is written as xn. When x is nonzero the value of x0 is normally assumed to be 1.
Alternatively xn can be defined inductively (see induction) in the following way:
The concept of exponentiation can be extended to include exponents that are negative, fractional, or variable or are complex numbers. Exponentiation is an operation that is supplied in some form in most common programming languages (the significant exception being Pascal). It is also a fundamental part of the floating-point notation for real numbers.