6th grade · Math · Unit 13 of 17
Powers and Common Factors
Exponents and prime factorization
What your child practices
Reading and writing powers such as 3⁴, evaluating them, order of operations with powers, writing prime factorizations with exponents, and finding common factors and the greatest common factor.
Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 6.3.5.4; 6.3.5.5 · prime factors with exponents, and common factors
How we explain it
Children can open this short lesson before they practice.
- An exponent tells how many times to multiply the base: 2³ = 2 × 2 × 2.
- A common factor divides two numbers evenly.
- To evaluate a power, multiply, then follow the order of operations.
Example: What is 2³ + 1? 2³ = 2 × 2 × 2 = 8. 8 + 1 = 9. Answer: 9
Powers and Common Factors in Minnesota
In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 13 of 17 in 6th grade Math, after Data & Graphs and before Dividing Fractions.
Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
What is the value of 2⁴?
answer box
16
Hint: 2⁴ means 2 × 2 × 2 × 2.
Question 2
Which number is a common factor of 16 and 40?
- 8
- 5
- 16
8
Hint: A common factor divides both numbers with nothing left over.
Question 3
Evaluate. Do the power first.
4 + 6² = ?
answer box
40
Hint: Order of operations: brackets, powers, then multiply or divide, then add or subtract.
Question 4
What is the value of 3⁴?
answer box
81
Hint: 3⁴ means 3 × 3 × 3 × 3.
Question 5
Write 7 × 7 × 7 × 7 as a power.
- 7 × 4
- 4⁷
- 7⁴
7⁴
Hint: The base is the number multiplied. The exponent tells how many times it is used.
Question 6
What does 7³ mean?
- 7 × 3
- 7 × 7 × 7
- 7 + 3
- 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3
7 × 7 × 7
Hint: The exponent tells how many copies of the base to multiply.