Sorry to not actually answer the question, you can just ignore me but no one can answer since you didnt give the full problem, which would be the measurments of the project etc.
The exponent of a number says how many times to use the number in a multiplication.
For Example, In 8² , the 2 is the number of times 8 has to be multiplied. In this case It has to multiplied by itself 2 times, 8x8 = 64 so 8² = 64. Another example is 9³ since the number above is 3 we have to multiply 9 three times, 9x9x9 = 729 which means 9³ = 729.
