What is 42 to the Power of 2?

What is an Exponent?

To solve for 42 to the power of 2, we need to understand the structure. The number 42 is known as the base, and the number 2 is the exponent. Essentially, the base must be multiplied by itself as many times as the exponent indicates. It's like a special code that says, "Do this many times!" Let’s look at this problem in more detail.

Writing in Base-Exponent Form

When we write a number with an exponent, it looks like this: $\textbf{base}^{\textbf{exponent}}$

Example: $2^4$ (Here, 2 is the base, 4 is the exponent)

Calculating the Result

So, using these steps for our specific problem, we first change our word problem into a base-exponent form: $42^{2}$,

To solve $42^{2}$, multiply the base (42) by itself 2 times: $42 \times 42$ = 1764

Therefore, 42 to the power of 2 is 1764.