First, you can factor out 625 using the 'tree' method or the 'ladder' method. 625 / \ 5 125 / \ 5 25 / \ 5 5 This means you can say that 625=5 to the power of 4 If your problem requires you to use only whole integers with exponents, then that would be the only way. If not, then you can also do 625=25*5²