Primary MathematicsPowers | power of 5 maths
Exponents,orpowers,areawayofindicatingthataquantityistobemultipliedbyitselfsomenumberoftimes.Intheexpression25,2iscalledthebaseand5iscalledtheexponent,orpower.25isshorthandfor"multiplyfivetwostogether":25=2×2×2×2×2=32.Noticethattheexponenttellsushowmanybasestomultiply,nothowmanymultiplicationstoperform.(Infact,thenumberofmultiplicationsisonelessthanthenumberofbases.)25isread"tworaisedtothefifthpower"orsimply"twotothefifth."Ingeneral,xn=x⋅x⋅x⋅⋯⋅x⏟nfactors{displaystylex{n}=underbrace{xcdotxcdo...
Exponents, or powers, are a way of indicating that a quantity is to be multiplied by itself some number of times. In the expression 25, 2 is called the base and 5 is called the exponent, or power. 25 is shorthand for "multiply five twos together": 25 = 2×2×2×2×2 = 32. Notice that the exponent tells us how many bases to multiply, not how many multiplications to perform. (In fact, the number of multiplications is one less than the number of bases.) 25 is read "two raised to the fifth power" or simply "two to the fifth."
In general,
xn=x⋅x⋅x⋅⋯⋅x⏟nfactors{displaystyle x{n}=underbrace {xcdot xcdot xcdot ,,cdots ,,cdot x} _{nfactors}}
where there are n xs to be multiplied.
Squaring numbers[edit | edit source][1]A convenient way to note that a number is to be multiplied by itself (for example 5×5) is to say that the number is squared. To help visualize this, picture a square which is 5 units long and 5 units wide. This square will then hav...