So, what have I learned about Exponents up until this point? Well, why don’t we start off with the basics.

What is an exponent?

An exponent is a simple version of multiplying a number to itself, the exponent is located at the top right of a variable, like so:

The exponent shows us how many times it has to multiply itself, if a number like 2 is raised to the power of 2, then the equation will look like  (2 x 2), if it’s raised to the power of 4, then it’s (2 x 2 x 2 x 2).

There are special terms for certain exponents however, the power of 2 is called a square, the power of 3 is called a cube, the rest are simply “x raised to the power of y”

What is the difference between evaluating and simplifying?

If we had a question like ““, then the end result can be “” without any repercussions, that is evaluating.

But if we had a question like ““, then we need to simplify it to it’s lowest form, the end result is then “1280” instead of ““, that is simplifying.

What is Multiplication Law?

If we are multiplying two exponents that have the same base, we can just add the exponents together.

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What is Division Law?

The opposite of multiplication law, if we are dividing two exponents that have the same base, we can just subtract the exponents.

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What is Power of a Power law?

If we have an exponent that has another exponent outside of it, then we need to multiply the exponents together.

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What are Exponents on Variables?

The only difference between exponents on numbers and exponents on variables is that there isn’t a simplified answer for exponents, since the value is unknown, then you can simply just add the exponents like in Multiplication law.

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