Exponents
An exponent is a tiny number beside a big number, which is called the base. Exponents make copies. The exponent is representing copies of the base, so if there was a base that was 5 and an exponent that was 3, it would mean that there are 3 copies of 5. ( 5x5x5). I also learned about negative exponents and I learned that exponents are “lazy”. What it means when I say that they are lazy, is if there is a negative base, then it only makes copies of the base because it doesn’t have to copy the negative sign. If there is brackets around the negative base then the whole thing would be copied. Same with fractions, if there is not any brackets
Laws
There are 3 main laws that we focused on for evaluating exponents and those are the multiplication law, division law and power law. Sometimes you can’t use one of the laws and you just have to evaluate the equation using BEDMAS.
Multiplication Law
The multiplication law is adding. What I mean by adding is when you have and equation with the same base you just have to add the exponents together and just leave the bases the same. There are other ways to get to the answer, but this is probably the most efficient way. If the base is different than you have to evaluate the question by finding the actual answer and not using the law. 
Division Law
The division law is very similar to the multiplication law, because instead of adding the exponents you subtract the exponents. You can also simplify the question, if you can see any common numbers, which would make the problem a little easier. If the bases are different for the equation then you just have to evaluate the question and find the actual answer.
Power Law
The power law is when you have a base with two exponents, usually one would be attached to the base and the other would be on the outside of the brackets. The power law is straight forward as all you have to do to solve the equation is leave the base and multiply the two exponents with each other.
Evaluate
There sometimes are questions that you can’t use any of the laws to solve your problem, and in that case you would have to just evaluate by using BEDMAS and find the actual answer. When you are evaluating it is important to make sure that you are following BEDMAS because if you don’t then you will most likely end up with a completely different answer. The questions that you have to evaluate are when there is a positive or a negative symbol in the equation, symbolizing that you are going to be adding or subtracting.
What is the difference between evaluating and simplifying?
When you are evaluating a question you are actually solving it to find an answer. When you simplify a question it means that you are using one of the laws and that you don’t have to find the exact simplified answer you can just leave it in exponential form.
Application of Exponents
Something that you would use exponents for other than when you are doing math equations is when you are doing science. In science you use exponents when writing formulas because when you use more than one chemical compound you need to use exponents to show that there is more than one type of that particle to make up a compound.
One other thing that I learned about exponents
I learned that exponents are lazy and they don’t like to do work if they don’t have to, meaning it will only make copies of the number in front of it unless there are brackets indication that the whole thing needs to be copied. If there was a fraction then the exponent only decides to copy the numerator and leave the denominator, because it doesn’t want to have to do work.