What does the word base mean in math?

Answer 1

In a power, such as 25, the number 2 is called the "base", the number 5 is the "exponent".

On the other hand, decimal numbers use the "base" 10 (this is also somewhat related to powers, but I won't go into details); instead of the base 10, other bases can be used as well (any integer equal to, or greater than, 2).


Base is the number system used. Base 2 has but 0 and 1 (binary)
Most often we use Base 10: 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
In computers Hexadecimal, Base 16 is common too: 0,1,23,4,5,6,7,8,9,A,B,C,D,E
(and even octal, Base 8)
To define the base use a subscript:
110112 = 338 = 2710 = 1B16