Answer:
The expression a^b
means that we multiplicate the number a by itself b times.
So x^2 means that we multiplicate the number x by itself 2 times:
x^2 = x*x
and 2^x means that we multiplicate the number 2 by itself x times
2^x = 2*2*2*....*2 (if you count them, you should see x times the number 2)
for example, if x = 4, we will have
2^4 = 2*2*2*2