I hate when it comes to explaining but I gave it my best!
(4^2)^4 is the same as (4^4)^2 because they’re both being squared and multiplied by the a number equaling to the same number, but written differently.
4^2=16 , whereas 4^4=256
HOWEVER
16^4=65536 and 246^2=65536.
Therefore both equal to the same number. It depends on the exponents, and multiplication. If it were to be a different exponent, then they wouldn’t have been the same