In exponential notation, what is the base in the expression 2³?

In the expression 2³, the base refers to the number that is being multiplied by itself according to the exponent. In this case, the base is 2, which indicates that 2 will be multiplied by itself three times (i.e., 2 x 2 x 2). The exponent, which is the superscript number 3 in this expression, signifies how many times to use the base in multiplication. Therefore, in the context of exponential notation, the base is clearly 2.