Year 6 maths homework question - not a scooby!

[NoisyBrain]

DS has this question in his maths homework:

What is the value of 8 as an exponent in 18,560 using powers of 10?

I used to be OK at maths back in the day but I don't even understand the question! (I know exponent is something to do with 'to the power of' but after that my brain just says 'nope').

Can anyone far wiser than me explain it in simple terms please? Google was no help 😂

Eight thousand?

8 * 10^3?

Building on Mumofteenandtween's answer. [The ^ symbol is a common way of typing "raised to the power" - if you're writing it out by hand then use a superscript.]

It's asking for the exponent (which is the value you're raising by) so I'd say the answer is 3 - because that's the power of 10 we're using. But the question might be open to other interpretations.

The value of the 8 is 8000.

Writing that in powers of 10 means 8x10^3.

It's 8000, or 8x10^3.

If a state school, that's a really silly question as it's not on the curriculum, and enough is, so teaching this seems unnecessary. If a private school, still a silly question if they've not taught your child what they're on about!

See this is why I bloody love Mumsnet sometimes. Thank you all!

@Thisismynewusernamedoyoulikeit just a bog standard state school. Maths is DS's strongest subject and I think this is meant to be a challenge, but he's adamant they haven't been taught this, so all it's done is confuse him 🙄

¨What is the value of 8 as an exponent in 18,560 using powers of 10?¨

This question makes no sense at all, at any level of maths (or English).

You found that even Google (AI) was of no help!

As 'Thisismynewusernamedoyoulikeit' has explained, the value of 8 in 18,560 is 8,000 and 8,000 is 8 times 10^3.

If that was what was required, the question should have been worded as something like:

'The value of 8 in 18,560 can be written as A x 10^B. What are the values of A and B?'

A question can be challenging, but it has to be written properly.

Rather than your son, it is the teacher who has failed miserably.

Confusing your son with such questions could make him loose interest and confidence in a subject he is very good at.

You should email the teacher and ask -/-/----- how this question needs to be tackled and what the answer is.

I should add, as other posters have also pointed out, the value of 8 in 18,560 is 8,000 and 8,000 is 8 times 10^3.