Terminology

! “power”
“exponent” or
“index”
(plural “indices”)
 
4
3 =3 ×3 ×3 ×3 The exponent tells us how many times the base
“Base” appears in a product.

! We say this as “3 to the power of 4” or “3

raised to the power of 4” or “3 to the 4”.
More on notation

4
3
   You may have heard the 4 referred to as the power. But ‘power’
refers to the whole expression ; the 4 is the exponent!

Phrase Precise meaning

“Powers of 2.”  Powers where the base is 2:

“3 raised to the power of 2.” .  ‘Raised’ here means ‘turned into a

power’. While “power of 2” might suggest
the 2 is the ‘power’, it’s really short for
“power with an exponent of 2”.
Understanding powers
When the exponent is a positive integer (whole number), it indicates how many
times the base is repeated in the multiplication.

5 appears 2 times.

2
 
?

5 =𝟓×𝟓=𝟐𝟓
?
?
?
?
It’s possible for the exponent to be fractional, 0 or negative.
We’ll deal with these later!

Warning:
  Sometimes people incorrectly
describe “” as “4 multiplied by itself 3 times”.
This would suggest there are 3 multiplications,
but actually only has 2 multiplications!
Multiplying powers
How would we simplify this?  means 3 ’s multiplied
together.

𝑥 ×𝑥 ¿ 𝑥×𝑥 ×𝑥×𝑥 ×𝑥
3 2
   

5
¿𝑥
    total we had 5 ’s
In
multiplied together.

 ! 1st law of indices:

i.e. when we multiply two powers, we

add the exponents.
Quickfire Questions
Your teacher will target various people. Do in your head!

5 4 𝟗
 

𝑥 ×𝑥 =𝒙
?
  Tip: When there is no
Fro
? exponent, you can raise
? the term to the power of 1:
?
?
?
?
Dividing Powers
How would we simplify this?

5
𝑥
 
𝑥 ×𝑥×𝑥 ×𝑥× 𝑥
 

3 ¿
𝑥 𝑥×𝑥 ×𝑥
Remember that we can simplify
2
¿𝑥
  fractions by dividing the
numerator and denominator by
the same number (or term).

 ! 2nd law of indices:

i.e. when we divide two powers, we

subtract the exponents.
Quickfire Questions
Your teacher will target various people. Do in your head!

100 2 𝟗𝟖
 

2 ÷2 =𝟐
?

?
Raising a Power to a Power
How would we simplify this?

4 3 3 3 3
(𝑥 ) ¿ 𝑥 ×𝑥 ×𝑥 ×𝑥
3
   

12
¿𝑥
 

 ! 3rd law of indices:

i.e. when we raise a power to a power,

we multiply the exponents.
Quickfire Questions
Your teacher will target various people. Do in your head!

5
  ?

3 𝟏𝟓
?

(𝑦 ) =𝒚 ?

?
?

?
?
 Group Challenges
   
1
What is half of ? 2 What is a ninth of
  𝟐𝟕
?
𝟐𝟕 𝟔   𝟗𝟗 𝟑𝟗𝟗
𝟑 𝟗𝟕
= 𝟏=𝟐 = 𝟐 =𝟑
𝟐 𝟐 𝟗 𝟑

   
3 What is a 4 What is the square
quarter of ? root of ?
  𝟒𝒙𝟒𝒙   𝟒 𝟒 𝟐 𝟖
𝟒
= 𝟏 =𝟒
𝒙 −𝟏
𝟑 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 ( 𝟑 ) =𝟑
𝟒
N  What is ?
  The LHS is .
So
Zero and negative indices
Is there a pattern we can
see that will help us out?

0 −1
   

3 3
33 = 27  ÷ 3

32 = 9
 ÷ 3
At this point, it doesn’t 31 = 3
make sense to say “The  ÷ 3
product of -1 threes”. We’ll 3 =1
0

have to use a different

1
approach! 3 = -1
3
1
3 = -2
9
Quickfire Questions
Your teacher will target various people. Do in your head!

𝟏 𝟏
   
? ?
A power of -1
therefore ‘flips’
? (reciprocates) the
?

−2
fraction.

−1
?

4= 6=
?
? ?

? ?

𝟒 𝟑𝟔
? ?
? ?
?
?
?
?
Mini Exercise (Exercise 1b) Questions on provided worksheet.

1  Determine the value of: N  [Edexcel GCSE June2003-6H Q17b]

Let , ,
a ?
b ? If 𝑥𝑦 = 32 and , find the value of 𝑝 and
the value of 𝑞 .
c ?
d ?
 Dividing the second equation by first:

Therefore
?

  (as )
?
A reminder of the Laws of Indices

𝑏 𝑐 𝑏 0
 
𝑎 × 𝑎 =𝑎 ? +𝑐  
𝑎 =1
?

 
𝑎𝑏 𝑏− 𝑐
𝑐
= 𝑎?  
𝑎 1
=𝑎
?
𝑎
  𝑏 𝑐 𝑏𝑐
(𝑎 ) =𝑎?

 
−𝑏 1
𝑎 = ?𝑏
𝑎
Fractional Indices

  1
2
𝑥 =√ 𝑥
And how could we prove this?
 
But it’s also the case that:

by laws of indices.
So
Fractional Indices

  1
3 3
𝑥 =√ 𝑥
?

 
1
𝑛 𝑛
𝑥 =√ 𝑥
?
Examples

1
2
64 =√ 𝟔𝟒=𝟖
Applying indices to products

  2 2 2
( 𝑎𝑏 ) =𝑎 𝑏

2
 

( 𝑎+𝑏 ) =( 𝑎 +𝑏 ) ( 𝑎+𝑏 )
  moral of the story:
The
1. Applying a power to a product applies the power to each term.
2. Applying a power to a sum does NOT apply power to each term.
i.e. in general.