Click on the pictures below to find out about some applications of raising a number to a power. Maybe you already know a few uses for the square and the cube of a number, but what about x to the power 4 or even x to the power 5?

The square of a number, x2 is used extensively for working out the areas of things. But you also need it for some rather more exciting calculations, as I found out the other day on the roof of the club.
Similarly, there's a lot more you can do with the cube of a number besides working out volumes. Click on the picture (right) to find out what the motorbike has got to do with x3.
x4 (which you say out loud as "x to the power 4") is a kind of shorthand for x * x * x * x. You could be forgiven for thinking that this is only useful as a plaything for idle mathematicians. But x4 has some perfectly serious uses. Click on the picture for an example.
Even more esoteric than x4 is the mysterious x5 (which is pronounced "x to the power five" or even just "x to the five"). And yet, even this high powered monstrosity has some down to earth applications. There's even one in the club's humble basement.