two-to-the-N from FOLDOC

two-to-the-N

An amount much larger than N but smaller than infinity. "I have 2-to-the-N things to do before I can go out for lunch" means you probably won't show up.

Numbers of the form two-to-the-N are very important in computing because they represent the value of bit N of a binary number (counting from 0) and the number of things you can count with an N bit number.

[Jargon File]

Last updated: 1994-12-06

Nearby terms:

two-phase commit ♦ twos complement ♦ two-to-the-N ♦ two-valued logic ♦ TX-0

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