Exponentiation
When it is a positive integer, the exponent indicates how many copies of the base are multiplied together. For example, . The base appears times in the repeated multiplication, because the exponent is . Here, is the "base", is the "exponent", and is the "power" or, more specifically, "3 raised to the 5th power".
Exponentiation
Apart from matrices, more general linear operators can also be exponentiated. An example is the derivative operator of calculus, formula_142, which is a linear operator acting on functions formula_25 to give a new function formula_144. The "n"-th power of the differentiation operator is the "n"-th derivative: