Powers

Powers, also known as exponents, are a way to shorten long strings of multiplication.

Instead of writing , write  which means "multiply four 5s together."

Or how about this for a timesaver: isn't  easier to write than ?

Important Rules of Powers

1. Any number to the power of 0 is 1
   •  and 
2. Any number to the power of 1 is itself
   •  and 
3. When you see a number raised to a negative exponent, take the reciprocal of the number (flip the fraction) and then change the exponent from negative to positive 
   • 
4. Remember to follow PEMDAS, the order of operations.  and  are two different problems. 
   • The first,  , means to take the negative of . The answer is the negative of  or . 
   • The second problem means to square , so it would simplify as , or