The fifth operation

In Europe, the notation we now use when raising a number x to the power n, namely *xⁿ*, emerged and became standardized only gradually over the centuries.

As early as the 14^th century, the mathematician Nicole Oresme used powers, including fractional exponents, and set out the rules for calculating with them. A little later, in the 15^th century, the mathematician Nicolas Chuquet used exponent notation in his Triparty en la science des nombres (1484), and defined powers with exponent 0 (except "0⁰") and powers with negative exponents. The German mathematician Michael Stifel, author of Arithmetica integra, then introduced the term "exponent" and extended the corresponding notation to negative exponents.