An exponential always refers to the number of multiplications we want to do.
For example,
[tex]\begin{gathered} 8^2=8\cdot8\text{ exponent 2: multiplication of 8 2 two times} \\ 8^3=8\cdot8\cdot8\text{ exponent 3: multiplication of 8 three times} \\ \ldots \\ 8^{10}=8\cdot8\cdot8\cdot8\cdot8\cdot8\cdot8\cdot8\cdot8\cdot8\text{ exponent 10: multiplication of 8 ten times} \end{gathered}[/tex]Then
8² = 8 · 8 = 64
