An Introduction to Exponents
The mass of the moon is 7,350,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg.
What are Exponents?
An expression that consists of a power of repeated multiplication of the same factor is called as
Power/Exponent/Indices.
Consider an example like 52, the number 5 is called the base, whereas 2 is the
power/indices/exponent of the expression.
ঘাত বা power/indices/exponent
2
5 ভিত্তি
base
বা
The value of the expression is derived by multiplying the base as many times as the number of
power. In the example above, the power is 2, thus the value becomes 5×5=25.
Types of Exponents
Exponents can be divided into four types based on the number in the power. They are:
1. Positive exponent
2. Negative exponent
3. Zero exponent
4. Rational exponent
Positive exponents can be simplified just by multiplying the base to itself the number of
times indicated by the exponent/power.
A negative exponent can be simplified by placing 1 in the numerator and the base along
with the exponent in the denominator of a fraction.
Zero exponents Any expression with the exponent as 0 is equal to 1 and no need to
consider the base value during simplification.
Rational or fractional exponents will become radical or roots. For example, 31/2 can be
written as 3root of 3, 62/5 can be written as 2 root (or square root) of 6 raises to the power
5.
Exponents Examples
Example 1: Express the number 245,000,000 into the exponent form.
Solution: The term can be written in the form of 2.45×108.
Example 2: What is the exponential form of 8 in the expression given below- 23.
Solution: The exponential form is the power in the expression. In the given expression the power
of the base is 3. Hence 3 is the Index/ Power.
Also, the value of the expression equals to 8.
What are Negative Powers?
The negative power is almost similar to the positive power of the exponent. The only change in
the negative power is that the value of the expression is the reciprocal of the value obtained in
the positive case.
Take an Example: 5-2
Example:
Find the value of the given expression (in fractional form)
(i) 3-4
(ii) 8−3
(iii) 2−6
Solution:
(i) 3−4
The expression can be written as-
1/34=1/81
(ii) 8−3
The expression can be written as-
1/83=1/512
(iii) 2−6
The expression can be written as-
1/26=1/64
Relation Between Positive and the Negative Power
Let us consider a base number to be a, and the power to be x,
The relation between the positive and the negative expression is given as-
ax=1/a−x
or
a-x=1/ax
Value of expression when the base value is 0 or 1:
0 and 1 are the only power that gives the same value, i.e. 0 and 1 respectively, for different
exponent values.
Such as 013=014341=0
13=11432=1
Negative Powers of 0 and 1
The negative power of 0 does not exist in nature. As the negative power would lead to making
the denominator to be 0, therefore the negative power of 0 cannot exist in nature.
Whereas the negative power of 1 exist in nature and is equal to the positive power of 1, as it
would also result in the value to be equal to 1.
In General form, we can write as-
0a =0 (where ‘a’ is a positive number)
1a =1 ( where ‘a’ can take positive as well as negative value both)
When the power is 0-
When the exponent value is equal to 0, the value of the expression is always equal to 1.
What about 00?
Based on the explanation stated above the value of the expression can either take 0 or 1.
But the value of such an expression cannot take 2 values at a time. Therefore the correct value
for 00 is equal to 1.
00=1
Exponents Solved problems
Example 1:
What is the exponential form of 256? Mention its base and exponent.
Solution:
256=2×2×2×2×2×2×2×2 = 28
In the above example, “2” is the base which is in 8 times repeated multiplication, equals “ 256”.
So, the base is “2” and the exponent is “8”.
Example 2:
Which one is smaller 53 or 35?
Solution:
First we need to calculate the value of the given expression.
53 = 5×5×5=125
and, 35 = 3×3×3×3×3 = 243
Thus 53=125 and 35=243
Therefore, 53 < 35
The process of exponents is called as “raised to the power”. In exponents, the following two
specialized names are available.
1. 52 = “5 raised to the power of 2” or “5 squared”
2. 53 = “5 raised to the power of 3” or “5 cubed”
Example 1: 10,000 = 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 = 104 = “10 raised to the power of 4”
