A class is given this question on a test about exponents a squirrel collects 12 nuts and hour for 12 hours on 12 days write an expression with and without exponents to find out how many nuts the squirrel collected two students provided these answers.

Question

Student A: 12/3, 12•3 36 nuts.
Student B: 12/3, 12•12•12 1,728 nuts
Which student is correct? Explain what the incorrect student did incorrectly

Answer 1

Student A is correct. The expression without exponents should be 12 (nuts per hour) x 12 (hours per day) x 12 (days), which equals 1,728 nuts. Student B incorrectly multiplied the number of nuts by 12 three times, instead of just once. This resulted in an incorrect answer of 1,728 nuts.