How Do the Rules Work?

This Instructional Activity is a part of the Lesson 3, Unit 7, Grade 8. This activity presents two valid ways to write 10^2 × 10^2 × 10^2 with a single exponent, but where the execution of one of the ideas has a mistake. Thinking through this problem will reveal whether students understand the two exponent rules discussed in this lesson, providing opportunity for formative assessment. The eventual goal of learning exponent rules is to avoid expanding factors, but expect students at this stage to expand exponential expressions to test whether or not each step is correct.