N exponent tells you how many times the base number is used as a factor. A base of five raised to the second power is called "five squared" and means "five times five." Five raised to the third power is called "five cubed" and means "five times five times five." The base can be any sort of number--a whole number, a decimal number, or a fraction can all be raised to a power.
Here are some simple rules to use with exponents.
<span><span><span>a1 = a</span>
Any number raised to the power of one equals the number itself.</span><span><span>For any number a, except 0, a0 = 1</span>
Any number raised to the power of zero, except zero, equals one.</span><span><span>For any numbers a, b, and c,
ab x ac = ab+c </span>
This multiplication rule tells us that we can simply add the exponents when multiplying two powers with the same base. </span></span>
