123
of 3

What are Exponents?

Let's do a bunch of multiplying!

2 x 2 = 4 ... 2 x 2 x 2 = 8 ... 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 16 ... 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 32 ... 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 64 ... 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 64 ... 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 128

Hey, we're going to run out of room pretty soon!  What if we wanted to multiply twenty 2's together?  I sure don't want to have to write that all out.  What if it was a hundred 2's?  Math geeks love math, but they don't want to have to write this all out either.  So, we've got a cool way to write these guys.

2 x 2 x 2 (three of them) = 2^3 = 8

2 x 2 = 2^2 = 4 ... 2 x 2 x 2 = 2^3 = 8 ... 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 2^4 = 16 ... 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 2^5 = 32 ... 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 2^6 = 64 ... 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 2^7 = 128