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Word Problems

Browse Middle School Exponents
Stars indicate particularly interesting answers or good places to begin browsing.

Selected answers to common questions:
    Negative exponents.
    Scientific notation.


Numbers Expressed as Exponents [08/27/1997]
How do you express .0000025 and 758,000,000,000 using an exponent?

Numbers with Large Exponents [08/22/2001]
How many zeros end the number 2^300 * 5^600 * 4^400?

Ones Digit of 3^100 [08/18/1999]
What is the number in the ones place of the value of 3^100? How can you find it without multiplying 3 one hundred times?

Operations in Scientific Notation [08/30/2001]

Ordering the Operations [11/10/1998]

Perfect Square: Definition [10/24/1999]
What is a perfect square?

Positive and Negative Exponents [07/27/1997]
Why does (-1)^n = 1 for any even number n, and why is (-17) ^-8 positive?

Power of 120 [06/12/2001]
Is there a quick way to work out 1.05 to the power of 120?

Power or Exponent? [10/14/2003]

Powers [10/7/1996]
What is it called when you have a number with a superscript of another number?

The Purpose of Powers [07/30/2002]

Raising a Power to a Power [11/27/1997]
Why isn't [(-x)to the 5 power]to the 8 power -x?


Rules of Exponent Manipulation [1/22/1996]
f sub r equals the reciprocal of ...

Scientific Notation [09/16/1997]

Scientific Notation and Engineering Notation [10/10/2001]


Significant Digits in Measurement [08/13/2001]
I understand that there are rules to determine the significant digits in measurement, but aren't all digits significant, especially zeros for place value?

Significant Figures and Scientific Notation [05/21/1997]
How do you tell how many significant figures a number has?

Simplifying Exponential Equations [08/19/2003]

Simplifying Expressions Using Exponent Laws. [02/08/1998]
Simplify: 5 to the exponent -4/3 divided by 5 to the exponent 2/3


Simplifying with Cube Roots [01/22/1997]



Speed of Light [06/08/2001]

Srinivasa Ramanujan [03/28/1999]
What are the mathematical contributions of Srinivasa Ramanujan?

Straight Line on the Graph [09/10/1998]

Subtracting Exponents when Dividing Like Bases [01/21/2005]
I need to simplify x to the seventh power over x to the third power. I think I should divide 7 by 3 and put that as the power, but that gives me x to the 2.3 repeating power, and the book says it's x to the fourth.

Surds [05/17/2000]

Talking About Exponents [06/11/2002]
When a number is cubed, would you say that it's multiplied by itself two times, or three? And why?

The Term Power [10/23/2001]
One of my students asked how we came to use the term power to express the number of times we multiply a number by itself.

Understanding Exponents [10/24/1996]
Can you help me understand exponents? What is 88^8?


Find the last two digits in 1996^1996.

Using Scientific Notation [11/01/1997]
I know it's used to multiply large numbers to get a correct answer, but I don't understand how to do it.

Value of 9^(9^9)? [10/21/2002]
What is the value of 9^(9^9)?

When FOIL Fails [03/22/2001]

I've only seen long, stringy roots!


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