Purplemath What are exponents? Exponents, also called powers or orders, are shorthand for repeated multiplication of the same thing by itself. For instance, the shorthand for multiplying three copies of the number 5 is shown on the right-hand side of the "equals" sign in (5)(5)(5) = 5 3.The "exponent", being 3 in this example, stands for however many times the value is being.