Question 350680
Lets find out.

Start with a piece of paper.  When you fold this paper in half once, you will now have 2 identical rectangles.  A second time will give you 4, a third 8, and a fourth time will give you 16.

The algebraic equation to determine this is:
{{{y=2^n}}}
Where y is the number of identical rectangles and n is the number of times the paper has been folded in half.

Plugging in the numbers from your equation yields these results:
{{{y=2^4}}}
{{{y=2*2*2*2}}}
{{{y=16}}}

Likewise, if you folded the paper in thirds, the equation would be:
{{{y=3^n}}}
Where y is the number of identical rectangles and n is the number of times the paper has been folded in thirds.

The number of folds you create in the paper for each iteration is the base (2 in {{{2^n}}} or 3 in {{{3^n}}}.)

Hope this helps.
Justin