If you've ever seen a small number on the upper right hand side of another number or variable (a letter that represents a number), you were probably looking at an exponent. Exponents raise the amount of a base by multiplying that base times itself a certain amount of times. If you raise a base to the fourth power, it means that you multiply that base four times in a row. You may have to factor exponents to the fourth power as a part of a high school or college algebra course.
Instructions
-
-
1
Multiply the base times itself. For example, if you have 2^4, multiply 2 times 2 to get 4.
-
2
Multiply your answer from step one times the original base. In this case, you would multiply 4 times 2 to get 8.
-
-
3
Multiply the product from step two times the original base once more to find the final answer. In this example, you would multiply 8 times 2 to get 16. Therefore 2^4 = 16.