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
Exponentiation with integer exponents can be defined in any multiplicative monoid. A monoid is an algebraic structure consisting of a set "X" together with a rule for composition ("multiplication") satisfying an associative law and a multiplicative identity, denoted by 1. Exponentiation is defined inductively by: