Question

Can someone please explain what an exponent is? Apparently, I was supposed to learn what it was in Fifth grade but I didn't learn it at my od school. My friend says you are supposed to multiply it by itself the number of times the exponent is, for example, 2² you would multiply it by two twice. My other friends say you add it the number of time the exponent is.

Answer 1

Exponent-
`5^(2)`

An expression that represents repeated multiplication of the same factor is called a power. The number 5 is called the base, and the number 2 is called the exponent. The exponent corresponds to the number of times the base is used as a factor.

Answer 2

5² for example an exponent is the small number and depending on the number it multipies itself however many times for example 5² would be 5 * 5 and 7² would be 7 * 7 and vise versa

Explanation: