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6th grade · Math · Unit 8 of 19

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.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 6.7(A) · whole-number exponents and prime factorization

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. An exponent tells how many times to multiply the base: 2³ = 2 × 2 × 2.
  2. A common factor divides two numbers evenly.
  3. 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 Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 8 of 19 in 6th grade Math, after Patterns & Graphs and before Facts & Factors.

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.

Source: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    What is the value of 5⁴?

    answer box

  2. Question 2

    Which shows the prime factorization of 24 using powers?

    • 2³ × 3²
    • 2³ × 3
    • 2⁴ × 3
    • 2 × 3³

  3. Question 3

    Evaluate. Do the power first.

    5 + 4² = ?

    answer box

  4. Question 4

    Evaluate. Do the power first.

    5 × 3² = ?

    answer box

  5. Question 5

    What does 7⁴ mean?

    • 4 × 4 × 4 × 4 × 4 × 4 × 4
    • 7 × 7 × 7 × 7
    • 7 × 4
    • 7 + 4

  6. Question 6

    What is the value of 4⁴?

    answer box

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