Powers and scientific notation

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$2^5$ means $2\times 2\times 2\times 2\times 2$, which is 32. It isn't $2\times 5$. Powers let us write big numbers in a short way.

Scientific notation writes a number as something from 1 to 10 times a power of 10. The distance from Earth to the Sun, about 93,000,000 miles, becomes $9.3\times 10^7$.

Work through it

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Reading $3^2$ as 6.

$3^2=3\times 3=9$.

Your turn

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