Level 5-6 Numbers - Powers

Powers, indices, exponents. Three words which may worry you but you need to understand them for KS3 Maths. So, what exactly are they? Well, all three terms mean exactly the same thing. They refer to the little numbers placed above and to the right of ordinary numbers. These little numbers, most commonly referred to as powers, tell you to multiply the large number by itself as many times as the power tells you.

Squares and cubes are the powers you'll come across most often. They're simply a way of quickly writing a lot of information. For example 4⁷ is much easier to write than 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 but means exactly the same thing.

Raising a number to a power is a POWERFUL operation, that's why I for Index comes before DM for Division and Multiplication in the order of operations you know as BIDMAS. Try this quiz to help you practise your powers in maths!