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The Challenge

Implement tetration (aka Power Tower or Hyperexponentiation) with the least amount of characters.

The Conditions

• Don't use the 'power' operator or its equivalents (such as pow(x,y), x^y, x**y, etc.)
• Input given as: x y (separated by a space)
• x is exponentiated by itself y times.
• Your method must be able to compute at least 4 3 (4 exponentiated by itself 3 times)

The Scoring

• Lowest score wins: (# of characters)
• Bonus deduction if you do not use the multiplication operator (-5 points).
• No Speed/Memory requirements. Take as long as you want.

Examples

x, 0 -> 1 2, 2 -> 2^2 = 4 2, 4 -> 2^(2^(2^2)) = 65536 4, 3 -> 4^(4^4) = 4^256 = 13407807929942597099574024998205846127479365820592393377723561443721764030073546976801874298166903427690031858186486050853753882811946569946433649006084096` 

Open to suggestions/alterations/questions

The Challenge

Implement tetration (aka Power Tower or Hyperexponentiation) with the least amount of characters.

The Conditions

• Don't use the 'power' operator or its equivalents (such as pow(x,y), x^y, x**y, etc.)
• Input given as: x y (separated by a space)
• x is exponentiated by itself y times.
• Your method must be able to compute at least 4 3 (4 exponentiated by itself 3 times)

The Scoring

• Lowest score wins: (# of characters)
• Bonus deduction if you do not use the multiplication operator (-5 points).
• No Speed/Memory requirements. Take as long as you want.

Examples

x, 0 -> 1 2, 2 -> 2^2 = 4 2, 4 -> 2^(2^(2^2)) = 65536 4, 3 -> 4^(4^4) = 4^256 = 13407807929942597099574024998205846127479365820592393377723561443721764030073546976801874298166903427690031858186486050853753882811946569946433649006084096 

Open to suggestions/alterations/questions

The Challenge

Implement tetration (aka Power Tower or Hyperexponentiation) with the least amount of characters.

The Conditions

• Don't use the 'power' operator or its equivalents (such as pow(x,y), x^y, x**y, etc.)
• Input given as: x y (separated by a space)
• x is exponentiated by itself y times.
• Your method must be able to compute at least 4 3 (4 exponentiated by itself 3 times)

The Scoring

• Lowest score wins: (# of characters)
• Bonus deduction if you do not use the multiplication operator (-5 points).
• No Speed/Memory requirements. Take as long as you want.

Examples

x 0 = 1

2 2 = 2^2 = 4

2 4 = 2^(2^(2^2)) = 65536

4 3 = 4^(4^4) = 4^256 = 13407807929942597099574024998205846127479365820592393377723561443721764030073546976801874298166903427690031858186486050853753882811946569946433649006084096

Open to suggestions/alterations/questions

The Challenge

Implement tetration (aka Power Tower or Hyperexponentiation) with the least amount of characters.

The Conditions

• Don't use the 'power' operator or its equivalents (such as pow(x,y), x^y, x**y, etc.)
• Input given as: x y (separated by a space)
• x is exponentiated by itself y times.
• Your method must be able to compute at least 4 3 (4 exponentiated by itself 3 times)

The Scoring

• Lowest score wins: (# of characters)
• Bonus deduction if you do not use the multiplication operator (-5 points).
• No Speed/Memory requirements. Take as long as you want.

Examples

x, 0 -> 1 2, 2 -> 2^2 = 4 2, 4 -> 2^(2^(2^2)) = 65536 4, 3 -> 4^(4^4) = 4^256 = 13407807929942597099574024998205846127479365820592393377723561443721764030073546976801874298166903427690031858186486050853753882811946569946433649006084096` 

Open to suggestions/alterations/questions