Exponents are a way of representing repeated multiplication. They are written as a base number raised to a power, or exponent. For example, 3^2 means “3 squared” and is equal to 3 multiplied by itself, or 3 x 3, which equals 9.

The exponent tells you how many times to multiply the base number by itself. In the example above, the exponent is 2, so we multiply 3 by itself 2 times.

Exponents can also be negative, in which case they indicate division. For example, 3^-2 means “3 to the power of negative 2” and is equal to 1 divided by 3 squared, or 1/9.

Here are some other examples:

• 4^3 = 4 x 4 x 4 = 64
• 2^0 = 1 (any number raised to the power of 0 equals 1)
• 5^-1 = 1/5 (5 to the power of negative 1 is the same as 1 divided by 5)
• 10^4 = 10,000