exponential
[ek-spoh-nen-shuh l, -spuh-]
- of or relating to an exponent or exponents.
- Mathematics.
- of or relating to the constant e.
- (of an equation) having one or more unknown variables in one or more exponents.
- rising or expanding at a steady and usually rapid rate:a city experiencing exponential growth.
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- Mathematics.
- the constant e raised to the power equal to a given expression, as e3x, which is the exponential of 3x.
- any positive constant raised to a power.
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Origin of exponential
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for exponential
Contemporary Examples
The numbers are still small, but the growth has been exponential since the first atheist church service was held in January.
Yet the exponential decline in the cost means that the threat posed by the fabrication of lethal bio-pathogens is rising.
This trend will only make more sense as the exponential cost drop continues.
It has annual revenues exceeding $6 billion, an exponential improvement from the 1990s.
Every tiny ounce of pressure added has an exponential effect.
Historical Examples
The energy it would receive from the Sun as it approached, an exponential curve.
The LeechPhillips Barbee
It multiplies and surges to its fulfillment at an exponential rate.
The Demi-UrgeThomas Michael Disch
The inevitable outcome is an exponential explosion in computing and networking power.
After the RainSam Vaknin
exponential
- maths (of a function, curve, series, or equation) of, containing, or involving one or more numbers or quantities raised to an exponent, esp e x
- maths raised to the power of e, the base of natural logarithmsSymbol: exp
- of or involving an exponent or exponents
- informal very rapid
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- maths an exponential function, etc
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for exponential
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
exponential
[ĕk′spə-nĕn′shəl]
- Relating to a mathematical expression containing one or more exponents.♦ Something is said to increase or decrease exponentially if its rate of change must be expressed using exponents. A graph of such a rate would appear not as a straight line, but as a curve that continually becomes steeper or shallower.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.