Question

2. Give a detailed time line of how exponents was created, from when exponents first became a term and theory until now in the present.

2-3 paragraphs (please cite)

Answer 1

An exponent reflects a number multiplied by itself, like 2 times 2 equals 4. In exponential form that could be written 2², called two squared. The raised 2 is the exponent and the lower case 2 is the base number. If you wanted to write 2x2x2 it could be written as 2³ or two to the third power. The same goes for any base number, 8² is 8x8 or 64. You get it. You could use any number as the base and the number of times you want to multiply it by itself would become the exponent.

The numbering system was obviously different from modern mathematics. Without getting into the detail of how and why it was different, suffice it to say that they would write the square of 147 like this. In sexagesimal system of math, which is what the Babylonians used, the number 147 would be written 2,27. Squaring it would produce in modern days, the number number 21,609. In Babylonia is was written 6,0,9. In sexagesimal 147 = 2,27 and squaring gives the number 21609 = 6,0,9. This is what the equation, as discovered on another ancient tablet, looked like.

in a complex mathematical formula, you need to calculate something really important. It could be anything and it required knowing what 9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9 equaled. And there were a lot of such large numbers in the equation. Wouldn't it be a lot simpler to write 9³³? You can figure out what that number is if you care to. In other words it is shorthand, much as many other symbols in math are shorthand, denoting other meanings and allowing complex formulas to be written in a more concise and comprehensible way. One caveat to keep in mind. Any number raised to the zero power equals 1.