Question 994618
The "power" is a normal counting number; so "third power" really means 3; "fifth power" really means 5.  Those are telling the exponent to use on the (base) number.


{{{2^3}}} means  {{{2*2*2}}}.


{{{5^5}}} means  {{{5*5*5*5*5}}}.


Another example,  ten to the second power is  {{{10^2}}} which is same as  {{{10*10}}}, which is the product, {{{100}}}.


---
Multiplication is a shortcut for expressing repeated addition of a number.
Exponentiation (at least using whole number exponents)  is a shortcut for expressing multiplication of a repeated factor.