Zenzizenzizenzic

Zenzizenzizenzic is an obsolete form of mathematical notation representing the eighth power of a number (that is, the zenzizenzizenzic of x is x8), dating from a time when powers were written out in words rather than as superscript numbers.

At the time Recorde proposed this notation, there was no easy way of denoting the powers of numbers other than squares and cubes.

[2] Similarly, as the sixth power of a number is equal to the square of its cube, Recorde used the word zenzicubike to express it; a more modern spelling, zenzicube, is found in Samuel Jeake's Arithmetick Surveighed and Reviewed.

[6][7] Recorde proposed three mathematical terms by which any power (that is, index or exponent) greater than 1 could be expressed: zenzic, i.e. squared; cubic; and sursolid, i.e. raised to a prime number greater than three, the smallest of which is five.

Jeake's text appears to designate a written exponent of 0 as being equal to an "absolute number, as if it had no Mark", thus using the notation x0 to refer to an independent term of a polynomial, while a written exponent of 1, in his text, denotes "the Root of any number" (using root with the meaning of the base number, i.e. its first power x1, as demonstrated in the examples provided in the book).