7. Expressions with exponents

Exponential expressions are just a way to write powers in short form. The exponent indicates the number of times the base is used as a factor. So in the case of 32 it can be written as 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2=25, where 2 is the “base” and 5 is the “exponent”. We read this expression as “two to the fifth power”.