Date: 09/30/2002 at 22:31:22 From: Kevin Subject: Subscript vs.
Superscipt Dear Dr. Math, I'm currently taking Algebra 1 and I
was curious as to what subscript actually denotes. I am aware
that superscript refers to exponents, but I wanted to know in
what kind of situation would someone use subscript, and in what
level of math you learn about it. Thanks! Date: 09/30/2002 at
23:37:35 From: Doctor Peterson Subject: Re: Subscript vs.
Superscipt Hi, Kevin. A subscript is just a letter or number
written to the right of something and below it. There's no
reason it has to have any meaning; the superscript used for an
exponent is just the notation someone chose long ago to use for
powers, and has no inherent significance apart from that
arbitrary choice. Subscripts are used in various ways, not as
specifically as exponents. For example, if we have a sequence of
numbers and want to use a variable to represent them, we often
use a subscript to indicate the index in the sequence. That is,
if the sequence is 1, 2, 3, 5,