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You are correct. From now on we shall use the letter “b” to stand for the base of an expression, and “n” to stand for the exponent.
The reason for using such general symbols as b and n is that there are some statements we can make about powers of numbers that are true no matter what number is being used as the base. So far we have had to use specific numbers for examples. We can now sum up what we have said about powers of numbers, using the b and n symbols:
b2
= b × b = bused as a factor twice;b3
= b × b × b = bused as a factor three times;b4
= b × b × b × b = bused as a factor four times.
In the expression bn, how many times is b used as a factor?
