Thursday, August 8, 2013

often, of ten

Often or often( one word ) means frequently, or as a somewhat regular habit--
We often go to the beach while on vacation.
He often stops at that store on the corner.

Of ten or of ten ( two words ) means out of a set of ten ( 10 )--
This is one of ten movies we rented, so we have to keep watching.
This book is one of a set of ten.
This is the last of ten pizzas.
Of ten may also mean made or derived from ( ten of something )--
"My strength is as the strength of ten because my heart is pure."
This quilt was made out of ten baby blankets.

Now that you know that, you can say--
"We often  stop at one of ten restaurants along the way."

Note--"to the power of ten" may be a math term, probably an informal term for an exponent--a little number at the top of a number, telling you how many times the number should be multiplied by itself. If the exponent is ten ( 10 ), that would be ten ( 10 ) times. What is more likely is that someone is trying to write scientific notation without a program that will show an exponent ( the keyboard doesn't have one ). Scientific notation is how really large numbers are written. A number is shown,  times the number ten ( 10), with an exponent showing how many times ten ( 10 ) should be multiplied by itself, or, how many zeroes to add to the end of the number. This is usually read as "ten to the nth power", n being the exponent, or power of ten.
102 is read "ten to the second power, or ten squared". Ten to the second power is one hundred  (10x10=100 ).
103 is read "ten to the third power, or ten cubed". Ten to the third power is one thousand. ( 10x10x10=1000 ). 
104 is read "ten to the fourth power". Ten to the fourth power is ten thousand. ( 10x10x10x10=10,000 ).
Other numbers may be squared, cubed, or raised to a "power"--
22 ( 2 squared )  is four. ( 2x2=4 ).
24  ( Two to the fourth power ) is sixteen. ( 2x2x2x2=16 ) 
If you use a calculator to multiply large numbers, you may get the answer in scientific notation, with an exponent, or "power of ten". 

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