What you’ll learn
Evaluate powers.
Key idea
Build successive products of the base; exponents count factors rather than multiply once.
An exponent is a factor count, not a multiplication operand; missing exponents must reproduce the entire target product.
Worked example
Enter the exact value or ordered values in the format requested below.
Evaluate 6^5 exactly. Enter its whole-number value.
- Expand 6^5 as 6×6×6×6×6.
- The product is 7776; it uses 5 copies of 6.
Answer: 7776
Quick Check
Evaluate a worked attempt at evaluate powers, identify the first invalid step, and provide the correction.
A student writes Step 1: 6^2 needs 2 copies of 6. Step 2: 6^2=6×2=12. Locate the first invalid step and correct the value.