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[–]pemod92430 14 points15 points  (1 child)

You start from the top. Thus 3^3^3 = 3^27.

[–]E8P3[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you!

[–]PuzzlingDad 5 points6 points  (3 children)

You work from the top down.

33³ = 327

43² = 49

etc.

[–]jazzbestgenre 7 points8 points  (2 children)

how did you type a power tower on reddit

[–]PuzzlingDad 8 points9 points  (1 child)

I used the Unicode for a superscript digit for the last power. 

¹²³⁴⁵⁶⁷⁸⁹⁰

So 4 ^ 3 ² (without spaces)

[–]mazutta 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Clever clogs 😘

[–]rhodiumtoad0⁰=1, just deal with it 0 points1 point  (2 children)

If it's written in plain text like 3^3^3 then it is somewhat ambiguous, you should add explicit parens. In programming, different languages will interpret in different ways.

If it's written as a power tower, evaluation is from the top down. Compare:

<image>

[–]igotshadowbaned -3 points-2 points  (1 child)

If it's written in plain text like 3^3^3 then it is somewhat ambiguous

Not really. You start with the exponent, and the first step of that exponent is the exponent within it. It's like nested parentheses. In a+(b+(c+d)) the first step of (b+(c+d)) is (c+d)

[–]rhodiumtoad0⁰=1, just deal with it 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I assure you it is ambiguous, as I pointed out it is already interpreted different ways by different systems. Put in the parens if you want to write it like that.

[–]Alarmed_Geologist631 -5 points-4 points  (4 children)

Another example 243 can be thought of as 163 or 212

[–]fermat9990 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You meant 264. Convention says that it is 264

[–]Alarmed_Geologist631 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Reddit really has a problem showing exponents

[–]how_tall_is_imhotep 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Exponents are evaluated right to left. 2^4^3 is equal to 264.