How is $e^x$ read aloud?

Question

My current research colleague from New Castle told me that I was reading it wrong. I usually read it as e power x.

How do you read aloud $e ^ x$?

Is it:

• e raised to x
• e power x
• e powered x
• or e raised to the power x.

What is the correct pronunciation?

Answer 1

i think "exponential of $x$" is the correct way but "e to the x" is also used commonly

Answer 2

I think "e to the x" or "the exponential of x" are both fine. I might even use "e of x."

Answer 3

I would usually say "e to the x", but when the interpretation is clear "e x" is sufficient to me.

Answer 4

When I read it out loud, I prefer saying e to the $\rm x$ because it is a quick phrase and means the same as e raised to the $x$th power. Albeit, it still differs from person-to-person.

Answer 5

Since no one else (except the OP) has suggested this: even though mostly I would say "$e$ to the $x$", I often say "$e$ raised to the power $x$".

Answer 6

I always read it as "e to the power of x", which is perhaps a little verbose.

Answer 7

We usually say; e to the power x (e is supposed to be raised and its value will increase )

Answer 8

e to the x is what I say. I think that as long as it's understood what you mean, it's OK.

Answer 9

I say, "e to the x." It is simplest.

Answer 10

e raised to the power x

is correct and clear

to the students what you mean

Answer 11

Given that your avatar is the infamous Wolfram|Alpha logo "hombic hexecontahedron", I suppose you're reasonably familiar with Mathematica. If you have Mathematica handy, there is a systematic solution to this type of questions, viz. how to pronounce some mathematical expressions in Engish, using Mathematica's SpokenString[] function. For example,

In[19]:= SpokenString[e^x]

Out[19]= "e to the power of x"

Some more complex expressions such as $\int_0^1 \sin (x) dx$ which is written in Mathematica as Integrate[Sin[x], x, {x, 0, 1}] can evaluate by itself, and hence need to be wrapped with HoldForm and then passed to SpokenString[]:

In[21]:= SpokenString[HoldForm[Integrate[Sin[x], x, {x, 0, 1}]]]

Out[21]= "the integral of sine of x over x from 0 to 1, then with respect to x"

In[22]:= SpokenString[Integrate[Sin[x], x, {x, 0, 1}]]

Out[22]= "x minus x times cosine of 1"

I've heard that this (combined with Speak[]) is used to aid teaching blind and/or deaf people mathematics.