For many sports journalists, the Swiss Roger Federer is the best historical exponent of tennis.
The term exponent has various uses and meanings. By exponent you can understand a person, a thing or a number that exposes ; In the first two cases, expose is a verb that refers to presenting something, making it known, while the mathematical concept is related to empowerment.
Let's look at some example sentences: "Your uncle is the exponent that exemplifies how a person, with a little luck, can reach the top" , "This liquid will be the exponent of how heat can alter the state of a substance" , “To solve the product of a series of powers with the same base, it is possible to add their exponents and make a single power.”
Exponent as a quality model
An exponent is, on the other hand, a prototype , the model of a virtue or quality.
It is about a thing or a person representative of the most characteristic of a group : “The mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli is the best exponent of the Italian voice” , “The exponent of tango was, is and will be Carlos Gardel”, “The Eiffel Tower “It is a faithful exponent of French architecture.”
The empowerment
In the field of mathematics, the operation that involves a series of multiplications of a given number a certain number of times is known as potentiation ; The first component is called the base and is represented by the letter a , while the second is called the exponent and is written as an n . In this case, an exponent is an algebraic expression or a simple number that denotes the power to which another expression or another number (the base) must be raised.
The exponent must be placed at the top right of the element to be elevated. The way to read an operation of this type is " a to the power of an ", although it can also be said " a to the power of n ". On the other hand, it is important to note that in the case of exponents 2 and 3 , the correct readings are " a squared " and " a cubed ", respectively.
In potentiation, the exponent is the number or algebraic expression that denotes the power to which the base must be raised.
Calculations with exponents
Potentiation usually generates confusion for people who are not familiar with mathematics , but it is a very simple operation, since it is based on multiplication, which, in turn, is based on addition. If we take the example 2 cubed (that is, to the third power), the steps to follow are as follows: multiply 2 by itself and then the result by two; This gives us 8 . Why have we performed two steps if the exponent is 3? In reality, 3 steps, if not 4, have taken place.
Since our exponent (3) is a natural number , that is, it belongs to the set of numbers that we use to count things in the real world, it indicates the number of times that the base (2) will appear in a multiplication where it will be the only factor . Thus, 2 cubed becomes 2 x 2 x 2 , which equals 8 . From this new representation it can be deduced that 2 raised to the power of 1 is 2 , and the same thing happens in all cases.
Issues to consider
On the other hand, it is worth mentioning that any number other than 0 that is raised to 0 results in 1 . On the other hand, 0 to the power of 0 is a particular case that is not defined.
As mentioned in previous paragraphs, if you want to multiply powers that have the same base, it is possible to add their exponents and convert the expression into a single power; For example: 2 to the power of 4 + 2 to the power of 7 can be transformed into 2 to the power of 7 . When you have a power of another, such as (2 to the power of 6) to the power of 7 , it can be simplified by multiplying both exponents (6 x 7) and performing a single operation, which would leave us with 2 to the power of 42 .