Exponentiation
Exponentiation is a mathematical operation, written as , involving two numbers, the "base" and the "exponent" . When is a positive integer, exponentiation corresponds to repeated multiplication of the base: that is, is the product of multiplying bases:
Exponentiation
The term "power" was used by the Greek mathematician Euclid for the square of a line. Archimedes discovered and proved the law of exponents, , necessary to manipulate powers of . In the 9th century, the Persian mathematician Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī used the terms "mal" for a square and "kahb" for a cube, which later Islamic mathematicians represented in mathematical notation as "m" and "k", respectively, by the 15th century, as seen in the work of Abū al-Hasan ibn Alī al-Qalasādī.