The reverse of this n^2?

When you raise a number or a variable to the 2nd power, what does that mean? Or n^2 in this case. Of course it means you are squaring it or multiplying it by itself. Let us use a number such as 5.

5^2 means 5 x 5=25. Now, what the reverse process for that? It is of course taking the square root of 25 =5.

Now, suppose you had something like this: 5^n=625. How would you find n? You would take the logs of both sides: n x log(5) = log(625)=n =log(625) / log(5)=4.

Exponents smaller than whole number, I bet you mean fractions and negative numbers.

$\boxed{\color{red}m^{\frac{a}{n}}=\sqrt[n]{m^a}}$

$\boxed{\color{red}m^{-n}=\dfrac{1}{m^n}}$