The expression “23” is read “two to the third power,” or “two to the power of three.

”
A power has two parts, a base and an exponent.
2 is called the base.
3 is called the exponent.
The exponent tells us number of times the base is used as a factor. They are used to
show repeated multiplication.

So, 23 means, “2 as a factor, 3 times.”

23 8
Let’s do it again: 4
.

In this case, we use 10 as a factor 4 times.

10 10,000
In these examples, 8 and 10,000 are called standard numerals, and 23 and 10 are
numbers in exponent form.
form

Try these:
Write as a standard numeral.

1) 32 = ____________ 2) 2 = ____________

3) 2
= ____________ 4) 25 = ____________

5) 52 = ____________ 6) 101 = ___________

7) 33 = ____________ 8) 73 = ____________

9) 18 = ____________ 10) 113 = ____________

11) 103 + 102 + 101 = __________ 12) 112 + 13 + 23 = __________

Write as a standard numeral.

1) 15 = _______ 2) 53 = _______ 3) 3
= _______

3 = _______ 5) 26 = _______ 6) (39,218)1 = ______

82 = _______ 92 = _______ 9) 83 = _______

5 = _______ 11) 29 = _______ 12) 210 = _______

2
+ 32 = _______ 14) + 28 = _______ 15) 52 + 122 = _______

16) 15 + 2 + 33 2
+ 51 = _______ 23 + 53 + 32 + 35 = _______

18) 103 + 1 + 152 + 63 + 105 = _____________

 Exponent Form
Since 25 = ,
we can reverse things and say 2 2 2 2 2 = 25.
We can do this because the base is 2 and is used as a factor 5 times. So we write 25.

This time, let’s do one with variables instead of numbers:

a a a a a a a exponent form.
Here, the base a is used as a factor 7 times. So we write a7.

Sometimes, expressions contain both numbers and variables.

Let’s do another one: a a b b b b exponent form.

Here, the base a is used 2 times and the base b is used 4 times. So we write 4a2b .

Since it doesn’t matter what order we multiply things in:

v x 9 x v = 9v2x2

Try these:
Write in exponent form.

7 7 7 7 7 7 7 = _______

3) 6 6 6 6 = ________ 12 12 12 12 = _______

5) 9 9 y y 9 y 9 = ________ c c e e e = _______

7) d a 3 a a = ________ x 1 1 x x 1 1 = _______

9) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 = ________ 5 5 5 5 5 5 = _______

11) 8 v 8 v 8 = ________ 22 22 = _______

Let’s see what happens when you multiply two powers that have the same base:

3 35 = (3 3 3 3) (3 3 3 3 3) = 39
Note that 3 35 = 3 = 39.

Here’s a shortcut to use when multiplying powers that have the same base: add the
exponents.

Let’s do another one: b2 b5 = b2 + 5 = b7

m n

am an = am + n

product of powers.

Try these:
Simplify each expression.

1) 3 6
= ________ 75 72 = _______

3) 63 6 = ________ 127 127 = _______

5) c5 c3 = ________ 3d d 6 = _______

7) 85 87 = ________ x3 x2 y y6 = _______

9) 011 06 = ________ 915 9 = _______

11) 118 115 = ________ 25n2 25n9 = _______

The power of a power can be found using the rules for multiplying powers that have
the same base.

)
2 5 2
) 2
) 2
) 2
) 2 2+2+2+2+2
= 410

inside the parentheses by the exponent outside.

)
2 5 2 5 10

( 5) = v 5
Let’s do another one: (v = v20

m n:

((am)n = am n

Try these:
Simplify each expression. Write in exponent form.

1) (5 )6 = ________ 2) (32)8 = ________

3) ) = ________
5 3
4) (29)5 = ________

5) (n10)9 = ________ 6) (v5)2 = ________

7) (a8)8 = ________ 8) (113) = ________

9) (122)5 = ________ 10) (9 )6 = ________

11) (x7)3 = ________ 12) (c6)7 = ________

Write as a standard numeral.

= ____________ 2) 73 = ____________

3) 1 = ____________ 4) 32 + 6 = ____________

Write in exponent form.

5) 3 3 3 3 3 = ________ n n n n n n n n = _______

Write in exponent form.

7) v7 v5 = ________ 9x8 6x3 = _______

9) 125 127 = ________ a b3 a b9 = _______

Simplify each expression. Write in exponent form.

11) (53) = ________ 12) (t 2) = ________

13) (36)5 = ________ 14) (y9)3 = ________

Let's see what happens when we divide powers that have the same base.
56
52
= = =5

Here’s a shortcut to use when dividing numbers or variables that have the same nonzero
base: subtract the exponents.
56
52
= 56 – 2 = 5

a
m n :
am
an
= am – n

Try these:
Simplify each expression. Write in exponent form.

1) 332 = ________
8 6
2) 2 = ________

3) xx2 = ________ 4) xx9 = ________

6 11

8y6
6) vv9 = ________
10
5) 2y3 = ________

w
8) 7cc3 = ________
9 6
7) 15w3 = ________

9) 558 = ________ 10) bb9 = ________

10 9
Consider what happens when you divide powers with the same base and get zero as
the exponent.
23 23
23
= = = 1 and 23 = 23 – 3 = 20

Since 23 = 20 and 23 = 1, it follows that 20 = 1, because things that equal the same thing
3 3

2 2
are also equal to each other.

This suggests the following:

non-zero
(0)
(1).

20 = 1 ( 12 )0 = 1 (x + y)0 = 1

Try these:
Write each expression as a standard numeral.

1) 30 = ________ 2) x0 = ________

3) 100 = ________ 4) 10 = ________

5) 50 = ________ 6) 60 = ________

7) v0 = ________ 8) 70 = ________

9) 100 + 100 + 100 = ________ 10) (53 + 112 + 3 )0 = ________

Consider what happens when you divide powers with the same base and get a negative
exponent.
72 1 1 72
7
= = = 72 = 49 and 7 = 7 = 7-2

Since 7 = 1 and 7 = 7-2, it follows that 7-2 = 1 .

2 2

7 7
1
Notice that 7-2 = is the reciprocal of 72

reciprocal
a7
3-2 = 1 ( 3 )-2 = 16 = a-2 = 12
9 9 a9 a

Try these:
Simplify each expression. Write in exponent form.

1) 229 = ________ 2) 888 = ________

7 5

3) bb7 = ________ 4) 775 = ________

3 3

12y3
5) = ________ 6) 6aa6 = ________
y6

7) 20w 8) 15x
9

60w5
= ________ x 13 = ________
Simplify each expression.

1) 3-3 = ________ 5-2 = _______

3) 10-1 = ________ x-6 = _______

5) b-3 = ________ 6-2 = _______

7) 10-3 = ________ v-3 = _______

9) a-3 = ________ -3
= _______

11) 10-3 + 10-2 + 10-1 = ________ -2

+ 1-3 + 2-3 = ________
The expression –3 appears to be the same as the expression (–3) . However, this is
not the case.

“–3 ” is read, “the opposite of three to the fourth power.”

Here, the base 3 is used as a factor 4 times. Then, we take the opposite.
–
3 =– –
81

“(–3) ” is read, “negative three to the fourth power.”

Here, the base –3 is multiplied by itself 4 times. We do not take the opposite.
(–3) = (– – – –
3) = 81

is positive.

Try these:
Simplify each expression.

1) –63 = ________ 2) (–3)5 = ________

3) (–8)3 = ________ 4) (–2) = ________

Evaluate each expression using the value given.

5) –a5; a = 3 ________ 6) (–r)2; r = – ________

7) –(y)5; y = –5 ________ 8) –d ; d = 6 ________

 10
Write as a numeral:

1) 105 = _______________ 2) 109 = _______________

1012 = _______________ 4) 1016 = _______________

Write as a power of 10:

5) 10,000 = _______________ 6) 10,000,000 = _______________

100,000,000 = _______________ 8) 10,000,000,000 = _____________

Write as a numeral
numeral::

6.67 × 1,000 = _______________ 10)

3.69 × 100 = ________________ 12)

14)

16)

Write as a numeral and write in words:

17) 5
= _______________ ___________________________________

9.3 × 107 = _______________ ___________________________________

19) 2 × 105 = _______________ ___________________________________

6 × 1012 = _______________ ___________________________________

21) 9
= _______________ ___________________________________
 is a way of writing numbers using powers of 10. A number is

8,500,000 = × 6

second factor is always a power of 10.

to the left until the number you have created is greater than 1 but less than 10.

For the number above, we move the decimal 6 places to the left.
8.500000.

The number of places you move the decimal to the left lets you know what
w power of
10 to use when multiplying the new number. In this case, 10 .
6

When we multiply 8.5 × 106, we see that this equals 8,500,000.

Try these:

1) 123,000 = __________________ 2)

3) 6,670,000 = __________________ 4) 36,900,000,000 = _______________

5)
notation. ________________________

Light travels at the speed of about 186,000 miles per second. Write this number

A light-year is the distance light travels in one year. It is about six trillion miles.
 0.
–

exponent of 10. This gives us the following:

-4
×

Try these:
Write in scientific notation
notation.

1) = ________ 2) 0.00000000007 = ________

3) = ________ 4) = ________

Write as a numeral.

6.67 × 10-6 = _______________ 6) -3

= _________________

3.69 × 10-5 = ________________ 8) -7

= __________________