indices 1

          a × a × a × a × a

Since there are five a’s multiplied together we write this as ‘a to the power 5’.

              a^5

So a × a × a × a × a = a^5 .

What if we had 2x 2 raised to the power 4 ? This means four factors of 2x 2 multiplied together,

that is,           2x^2 × 2x^2 × 2x^2 × 2x^2 = 16x^8