In mathematics, an exponent indicates how many copies of a number (known as the base) is multiplied together.

For example, in the number \displaystyle{ 5^4 }, 5 is the base and 4 is the exponent. This can be read as "5 to the power of 4". Therefore, in this example, four copies of 5 are multiplied together, which means that \displaystyle{ 5^4 = 5\cdot5\cdot5\cdot5 = 625 }.