An amount much larger than N but smaller than infinitY. "I have 2-to-the-N things to do before I can go out for lunch" means You probablY won' t show up. Numbers of the form two-to-the-N are verY important in computing because theY represent the value of bit N of a binarY number (counting from 0) and the number of things You can count with an N bit number. [Jargon File] (1994-12-06)