They might look like tiny numbers, but exponents pack a powerful mathematical punch. Just as repeated addition gives rise to multiplication, repeated multiplication begets exponentiation. The interactions between exponents spell out important relationships throughout all disciplines of math and science. With an understanding of these interactions comes an intuition of how geometrical formulae are developed, how objects can be quickly counted, and how physical quantities both large and small are quantified. After this chapter, one thing should be clear: If addition and multiplication are the building blocks of arithmetic, then exponentiation is the capstone.
In this chapter, you can expect to see and learn how to solve questions like this one:
If you want to jump right in, concept quizzes train you on a specific technique in exponents, while the challenge quizzes are slightly harder and test your knowledge from a variety of the ideas learned in the concept quizzes.
