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Product to a Power Property for Exponents

The Product to a Power Property for Exponents provides a shortcut for raising a product of factors to a power. If aa and bb are real numbers and mm is an integer, then:

(ab)m=ambm(ab)^m = a^m b^m

In words: to raise a product to a power, raise each factor to that power separately. The property was originally developed for whole-number exponents using the definition of repeated multiplication. Consider (2x)3(2x)^3: by definition, this means 2x2x2x2x \cdot 2x \cdot 2x. Grouping like factors gives 222xxx=23x3=8x32 \cdot 2 \cdot 2 \cdot x \cdot x \cdot x = 2^3 \cdot x^3 = 8x^3. Each factor in the original product is raised to the exponent individually. The property extends to all integer exponents.

A numerical check confirms the rule: (23)2=?2232(2 \cdot 3)^2 \stackrel{?}{=} 2^2 \cdot 3^2. The left side gives 62=366^2 = 36, and the right side gives 49=364 \cdot 9 = 36 ✓.

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Updated 2026-04-29

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