Mathematics Reading Aloud – Natural Way to Express Powers and Exponents

mathematicsreading-aloud

What's the way/s that native English speakers say this number (52) in words?

Is there a shorter way than "Five to the power of 2"?

For example:

If you take 52 (in words?) and divide it into 5 is equal to 5.

Best Answer

52 is "five squared".

53 is "five cubed".

54 is "five to the power of four", "five to the power four", "five to the fourth power", "five to the fourth", or "five to the four".

From the comments, it seems some English speakers are unfamiliar with the shorter "to the four" way of saying things, but the following sources (among others) attest to it:

  • We can call this “x raised to the power of n,” “x to the power of n,” or simply “x to the n.” (see here)
  • 54 typically reads as “five to the four” or “five to the fourth”. (see here)
  • 104 could be called "10 to the fourth power", "10 to the power 4" or "10 to the 4" (see here)
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