Why is exponentiation applied right to left?

I am reading an Intro to Python textbook and came across this line:

Operators on the same row have equal precedence and are applied left to right, except for exponentiation, which is applied right to left.

I understand most of this, but I do not understand why they say exponentiation is applied right to left. They do not provide any examples either. Also, am I allowed to ask general questions like this, or are only problem solving questions preferred?

The ** operator follows normal mathematical conventions; it is right-associative:

In the usual computer science jargon, exponentiation in mathematics is right-associative, which means that x^yz should be read as x^(yz), not (x^y)^z. In expositions of the BODMAS rules that are careful enough to address this question, the rule is to evaluate the top exponent first.

and from Wikipedia on the Order of Operations:

If exponentiation is indicated by stacked symbols, the usual rule is to work from the top down, because exponention is right-associative in mathematics.

So 2 ** 3 ** 4 is calculated as 2 ** (3 ** 4) (== 2417851639229258349412352) not (2 ** 3) ** 4 (== 4096).

This is pretty universal across programming languages; it is called right-associativity, although there are exceptions, with Excel and MATLAB being the most notable.