CHAPTER

Family Letter
Section A

What We Are Learning

Dear Family,

Exponents

Your child will be learning about exponents and the properties

associated with them. An exponent is a part of a power. The
exponent is a number that represents how many times the
base is to be multiplied by itself.

Vocabulary
These are the math words
we are learning:
base a number that is
used as a factor in a
power
exponent a number that
represents how many
times the base will be
used as a factor in a
power
exponential form a
number written as a base
and an exponent
power a number
produced by raising a
base to an exponent
scientific notation
a shorthand way of writing
very large or very small
numbers using powers
of 10

Using exponents will allow your child to write repeated

multiplication in a more efficient way. This is how your child will
write and evaluate exponents.

Write using exponents.

2222
2 2 2 2  24

Identify how many times 2 is a factor.

Evaluate 43.
43  4 4 4

Find the product of three 4s.

 64
When evaluating expressions with exponents, remind your
child to follow the order of operations.
As your child becomes familiar with writing and expressing
exponents, he or she will learn how to apply exponent
properties. There are important relationships that exist between
exponents and the operations of multiplication and division. Your
child will learn how to multiply and divide powers with the same
base by using some of these basic properties of exponents.

Multiplying
When multiplying powers with the same base, keep the base
constant and add the exponents.

Multiply. Write the product as one power.

56 52
562

Add the exponents.

Dividing
When dividing powers with the same base, keep the base
constant and subtract the exponents.

Divide. Write the quotient as one power.

1214

129

12149

Subtract the exponents.

125

Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

All rights reserved.

25

Holt Mathematics

CHAPTER

Family Letter
Section A, continued
When multiplying or dividing powers with the same base it is
important to remember not to multiply or divide the bases. This
property only applies when bases are the same. Powers with
unlike bases cannot be combined using the two properties
shown in the examples.
A special case occurs when the bases are the same and the
difference in the exponents is zero. The zero power of any
number, except zero, will always equal 1. For example, 50  1.
Since it is possible to have a sum or difference that is a
negative number, your child will learn how to evaluate
expressions with negative exponents. A number raised to a
negative exponent equals 1 divided by that number raised to
the opposite of the exponent. This is how your child will learn to
evaluate expressions with negative exponents.

Evaluate.
54

56

52
1

52
1

25

The bases are the same so subtract the exponents.

Write the reciprocal and change the sign of the exponent.
Simplify.

Scientific notation is a shorthand way to write very small or

very large numbers. Numbers in scientific notation are written
as the product of a decimal and ten with an exponent. To
change numbers from scientific notation to standard notation,
move the decimal point the number of places indicated by the
exponent, to the right for a positive exponent and to the left for
a negative exponent. Similarly, to convert numbers from
standard to scientific notation, move the decimal point and
multiply by ten to the power of the number of places the
decimal point moves. Multiplying and dividing numbers in
scientific notation works the same way as multiplying and
dividing numbers with other exponents.
Have your child explain the purpose of exponents and the
many ways they are used in mathematics. Allowing your child
to verbalize this information is a way to help your child
understand this material.

Sincerely,

Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

All rights reserved.

26

Holt Mathematics

Name
CHAPTER

Date

Class

Family Letter
Exponents

Write using exponents.

1. (4) (4) (4)

2. 3 3 3 3 3 3

3. 9 9

4. t t t

6. (3)4

7. 64

8. (1)9

Evaluate.
5. 43

Simplify.
9. (2  43)

10. (27  32)

11. 25  (8 43)

12. (12  72)

15. 82 87

16. k 8 k 2

Multiply. Write the product as one power.

13. 64 63

14. 53 56

Divide. Write the quotient as one power.

6

5
17. 4
5

12

r
18. 6
r

p8
p

8
19. 
6

20. 4

23. 108

24. 101

Evaluate the powers of 10.

21. 103

Evaluate.
25. 33

22. 106

6
26. 5

4
27. 3

28. 74 75

Write each number in standard or scientific notation.

29. 9,630,000

30. 2.7  105

31. 0.0015

27. 16 28. 7 29. 9.63  106 30. 0.000027 31. 1.5  103
1

1
1
 26. 
15. 89 16. k10 17. 52 18. r 19. 86 20. p4 21. 0.001 22. 0.000001 23. 0.00000001 24. 0.1 25. 
27
216

Answers: 1. (4)3 2. 36 3. 92 4. t 3 5. 64 6. 81 7. 1296 8. 1 9. 66 10. 18 11. 537 12. 37 13. 67 14. 59
Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
All rights reserved.

27

Holt Mathematics

Name

Date

CHAPTER

Class

Family Fun
Match It Up!

Directions
Using the numbers in the right-hand column, make the number sentences
true in the left-hand column. You may use some numbers more than one
time and some numbers not at all. See how well you can match up the
correct answers to the number sentences.

Number Sentences

x equals

Possible Answers for x

1. 3x  9

0
10

2. 7.2  10x  0.072

5

3. x12  1
x

2
2

4. 8  8  8

5. x4  10,000

3
4

7
6. x  49
7

1
x

7. 0.001  10

8. 5x  625

3

9. 12  24 x 1

2

10. 6x 63  36

6
4

15
11. x  1

1

15

1
  10x
12. 
10,000

10

Answer: 1. 2 2. 2 3. 1 4. 5 5. 10 6. 6 7. 3 8. 4 9. 2 10. 5 11. 3 12. 4

Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
All rights reserved.

28

Holt Mathematics