What does it mean a number to the 5th or 6th power mean?

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Answer 1 · 2018-05-22T19:53:19

It means that the number is multiplied by itself that many times.

As I said in the answer, we can think of exponents as a way of shortening the statement "A number $n$ multiplied by itself $i$ times"

If we wrote the quoted statement as a mathematical expression:

$nxxnxxnxxn...xxn=n^i$

Translating this abstract explanation into a more concrete example:

$2^1=2$

$2^2=2xx2$

$2^3=2xx2xx2$

$2^4=2xx2xx2xx2$

$2^5=2xx2xx2xx2xx2$

The special conditions here are fractional/decimal exponents and zero.

A number raised to a fraction is the same as saying the " $k$ th root" of a number raised to the $i$ th power:

$n^(i/k)=root(k)(n^i)$

An exponent of zero always results in 1:

$1^0=1$

$2^0=1$

...

$750^0=1$

$n^0=1$