A power is the product of a repeated factor. A power expression consists of two parts. The base is the repeated factor and the exponent indicates how many times the base is used as a factor. Consider, for example, the power expression with base $7$ and exponent $4.$ In this example, $7$ is multiplied by itself $4$ times. Most powers are read in the same way, whether they are numeric or algebraic.

Expression	Example $1$	Example $2$
$2^2$	$2$ to the second power	$2$ squared
$7^3$	$7$ to the third power	$7$ cubed
$5^4$	$5$ raised to the power of $4$	$5$ raised to the fourth power
$m^4$	$m$ raised to the power of $4$	$m$ raised to the fourth power
$x^9$	$x$ to the power of $9$	$x$ to the ninth power

This table contains two special cases — when a number or variable is raised to the power of $2$ or $3,$ the power can be read as squared or cubed, respectively.