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Year 7 Maths — Powers and exponents

Read and write a power, work out its value, and use the laws for multiplying and dividing powers of the same base.

Name: ________________________

Before you start

This line runs to thirty-two in twos. Find 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32 on it, and see how far apart they get.

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Each of those is double the one before, so every jump is as long as the whole walk that came before it. A power grows far faster than the small numbers writing it suggest.

  1. 1.Which power means the same as 3 × 3 × 3 × 3?

    • a) 3 × 4
    • b) 3⁴
    • c) 3⁵
    • d) 4³

  2. 2.81 is 3 to some power. What is that power?

  3. 3.100000 is 10 to some power. What is that power?

  4. 4.7⁴ × 7³ is the same as which single power?

    • a) 49⁷
    • b) 7¹
    • c) 7⁷
    • d) 7¹²

  5. 5.Work out each power, then sort it by whether its value is less than 100 or more than 100.

    Groups: Less than 100 · More than 100

    • 2⁷
    • 3⁴
    • 3⁵
    • 6²
    • 2⁵
    • 5³

  6. 6.Which is larger: 2⁵ or 5²?

    • a) 5²
    • b) There is no way to tell
    • c) 2⁵
    • d) They are equal

  7. 7.Match each number to the power of 10 it is equal to.

    • 1
    • 10
    • 100
    • 1000
    • 10000
    • 10³
    • 10⁰
    • 10¹
    • 10²
    • 10⁴

  8. 8.What is 2⁴?

Answer key — Year 7 Maths — Powers and exponents

  1. 1. b) 3⁴
  2. 2. 4
  3. 3. 5
  4. 4. c) 7⁷
  5. 5. 2⁵ → Less than 100; 3⁴ → Less than 100; 6² → Less than 100; 5³ → More than 100; 2⁷ → More than 100; 3⁵ → More than 100
  6. 6. c) 2⁵
  7. 7. 1 → 10⁰; 10 → 10¹; 100 → 10²; 1000 → 10³; 10000 → 10⁴
  8. 8. 16