Final answer:
2 to the power of 10 is calculated by multiplying 2 by itself 9 more times, resulting in 1024. This illustrates the use of exponents in expressing large numbers compactly.
Step-by-step explanation:
To calculate 2 to the power of 10, we can understand that it means multiplying 2 by itself 10 times. So, 210 can be broken down step by step. Initially, 22 is 4, then 23 is 8, continuing this pattern until we multiply our results ten times, we reach the solution.
In compact form:
2^1 = 2
2^2 = 4
2^3 = 8
2^4 = 16
... continue until 2^10
Finally, 2^a10 equals 1024.
This demonstrates the exponential notation and how it simplifies understanding and working with very large numbers, as indicated by the number of the exponent.