Involution

(-lūshūn.) (From L. involutio, a folding up.] (Math.) The raising ofany quantity to agi ven power by multiplying into itself the required number of times; thus, the cube or third power of 4 is obtained by multiplying4, the root, into itself twice, as 4X4 X 4 = 64. The index, or exponent of the power, in this case 3, tells the number of factors, each of which is equal to the quantity to be involved; and the number of multiplications to be performed is always one le than the exponent. [s. 490]