Exponent ($b\text{ in }{a}^b$)

An exponent specifies the power in exponentiation: in $a^b$, $a$ is the base and $b$ is the exponent. For a positive integer exponent, $2^3=2\cdot 2\cdot 2=8$. For a positive real number base, a real exponent is defined by $a^b=\exp (b\log a)$ using the exponential function and natural logarithm. The Lp norm uses its exponent $p$ to determine how strongly large absolute values affect the result.