The question is worded a bit strangely (in my opinion anyway), but I think your teacher wants you to describe how exponents work.
Let's say we had the expression 
The base is 5 as its the bottom most value (think of something like the base of a tree or building). The exponent is 3.
The exponent of 3 tells the reader to multiply the base 5 by itself 3 times like so

With larger exponents, it becomes more tedious to write out all the repeated multiplications, which is why many calculators have an exponent button to save time.
Here’s how I solved to find the area. Hope this is helpful
Answer:
x = 15/8
Step-by-step explanation:
x/3 = 5/8
Using cross products
8x = 3*5
8x = 15
Divide each side by 8
8x/8 = 15/8
x = 15/8
Answer:
15 pizzas.
Step-by-step explanation:
The rate is 3 pizzas for every 7 people. If there are 35 people at the party (7 times 5), the amount of pizzas you should buy is 15 pizzas (3 times 5). Hope I explained that well (^^'')