Easy Exponents question, how did I miss?

Question

Help,

Taking practice tests and missed this seamingly simple question.

2^5 + 2^5 + 2^5 +3^5 + 3^5 + 3^5

answer was  2^6 + 3^6

(i'm new so for all exponents is ^)

Thanks in advance, what is the fast or easy way of solving this, and how could I be a moron and miss this question.

nsp007 · Answer

i think it should be  2^5 + 2^5 +3^5 + 3^5 + 3^5 --> 2 * 2^5 + 3 * 3^5 --> 2^6 + 3^6

Rachcu13 · Answer

maybe i don't clearly understand the adding of exponents. How do you end up multiplying them to make the correct answer 1 exponent higher than the original problem? I guess I need a lot of help.

Thanks.
Rachel

bb · Answer

You can actually write math symbols using the M tag - see the "Formatting and Formulas Help" link when you reply to my message, so you can make your posts very articulate.

As to the formulas/etc - you are not supposed to be able to add exponents except in this case where you have identical expressions because  2^5+2^5  is the same as or can be expressed as  2^5*2 , which in turn is  2^5 * 2^1 = 2^6  - you have two identical expressions.

If you memorized your shortcuts, you would know that  2^5 = 32  and 32+32 = 64, which is  2^6 , so you see the pattern.

Same with the 3's except here you need 3 components; you would need 4 with 4's and so on.

Good Luck!

Easy Exponents question, how did I miss?

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