List

How powers behave

When we raise numbers to powers, there are lots of interesting properties to be discovered. We hope this selection of problems will pique your interest and help you to develop your understanding of powers and indices.
Power mad!
problem
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Power mad!

Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
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Powers of numbers behave in surprising ways. Take a look at some of these and try to explain why they are true.

Power Countdown
problem
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Power countdown

Age
14 to 16
Challenge level
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In this twist on the well-known Countdown numbers game, use your knowledge of Powers and Roots to make a target.
Tens
problem
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Tens

Age
16 to 18
Challenge level
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When is $7^n + 3^n$ a multiple of 10? Can you prove the result by two different methods?
Giants
problem
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Giants

Age
16 to 18
Challenge level
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Which is the bigger, 9^10 or 10^9 ? Which is the bigger, 99^100 or 100^99 ?
Powers and roots
list

Powers and roots

Challenge level
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Working on these problems will help you develop a better understanding of powers and roots.