Difference Between Exponent and Power (with Comparison Chart)

In mathematics, you might have noticed superscript, i.e. a little digit that is placed above and to the right of any number. The large the number is the difficult is to read, compare and operate and due to this reason, superscripts are used to convert larger numbers into the smallest form. This is done with the help of powers and exponents, that are the basic concept of mathematics but are also juxtaposed by many students. Exponents represent the number of times the base is multiplied.

On the other hand, when it comes to power, it consists of two parts, i.e. a base number and the exponent. So, take a read of the article to understand, the difference between exponent and power.

Comparison Chart

Basis for Comparison	Exponent	Power
Meaning	Exponent means a quantity, describing the power to which base number is raised.	Power implies the product of continuous multiplication of the same base number.
Represents	The number of times, the base number are to be multiplied together.	It represents two things, i.e. base number and exponent.

Definition of Exponent

In mathematics, exponent implies the small number, positioned at the up-right of the base number. It represents, the number of times the base number is used as a factor, i.e. multiplied by itself. It can be numbers, constants and even variables. Whenever exponents are used to expressing a large number, the process is termed as raising to power.

In scientific notations, exponents are extremely important as they denote large or small quantity as powers of 10. E.g. Distance between the Sun and Earth is 1.496 × 10¹¹ million, the distance between the Sun and Moon is 3.84 × 10⁸ million. There are certain rules with respect to exponents, which are:

x^m × xⁿ = x^m+n
x^m ÷ xⁿ = x^m-n
(x^m)ⁿ = x^mn
x^m × y^m = xy^m
x^m ÷ y^m = x/y ^m
x⁰ = 1

Definition of Power

The term ‘power’, is used to mean, the number arrived at, by raising a base number to the exponent. The base number and the exponent are the basic elements of the power, wherein the base number is the number that is multiplied by itself and exponent is the number of times base number is multiplied.

Power is nothing but a number expressed with the help of exponent. It is the product of repeated multiplication, of the same factor. There are certain special terms used in this regard, which are:

When the power is two – The number is squared.
When the power is three – The number is cubed.
When the power is any number above 3 – The number is multiplied ‘to the power of’.

Key Differences Between Exponent and Power

The difference between exponent and power can be drawn clearly on the following grounds:

Quantity, describing the power to which base number is raised, is known as the exponent. The product of continuous multiplication of the same base number is called power.
Exponent represents the number of times; the base number are to be multiplied together. On the other hand, power represents two things, which are the base number and exponent.

Conclusion

When the numbers are expressed, without an exponent, are in standard form, but when it is expressed with exponent, then that form is called exponential form. The exponent is the little digit placed upper-right of the given number, whereas the power is the whole expression, containing the base number as well as the exponent.