Read the examples below and learn how Exponent and Base are being describe.
Example 1. Mang Taslo harvested 2 kg of mangoes on Monday, 4 kg on Tuesday,
8 kg on Wednesday, 16 kg on Thursday, and so on. If the pattern
continues, how many kilograms of mangoes will he harvest on Sunday?
Think and Learn
The problem above shows that the weight of mangoes harvested is
doubling each day. This can be expressed into an exponential notation
as 2? because the problem is asking for the weight of mangoes that will
be harvested on Sunday which is the seventh day. But how does the
expression 2' or two to the seventh power works?
2- is called base and it is used as a factor of itself
7 - is called exponent and it tells how many times the base is used as a factor
Thus, 27= 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 and 2x2x2x2x2x2x2 = 128
Therefore the answer of the problem is: One hundred twenty-eight kilograms of
mangoes will be harvested on Sunday
Example 2. In an expression 8°, which number represents the base? Which number
represents the exponent?
Solution:
In an expression 83,
8- is called base and it is used as a factor of itself
3 – is called exponent and it tells how many times the base is used as a
factor
8can be written as 8 X 8 X 8 = 512​