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How to Do Exponents in Google Docs

Writing exponents in Google Docs is relatively easy to do, however, if you have never done it before you will definitely be confused at first.

There are a number of ways to write exponents in your file. We recommend trying out a few different ways before deciding which one works best for you.

In this tutorial, I will show how to do exponents in Google Docs.

Table of Contents

How to Type Exponents in Google Docs

There are a few different options for typing exponents in your file. I will cover these three methods below:

  1. Exponents using the equation feature
  2. Exponents with superscript
  3. Exponent keyboard shorcut

Typing Exponents Using Equation Feature

Here are the steps for tying exponents in your file using the equation feature.

1. Open your Google Doc and select in your document the place where you want to insert the exponent

equation-exponent-1

2. In the top menu select Insert>Equation

equation-exponent-2

3. After you have selected equation, when you type the exponent operator (^) on your keyboard it will allow you to type exponents. In this example, I have typed 2^2 on my keyboard (the exponent operator is SHIFT + 6 on my keyboard). As you can see I now have 2 as an exponent in my file (squared)

equation-exponent-3

4. After you have finished typing the exponent that you want. Press ENTER on your keyboard several times to exit out of the equation feature

equation-exponent-4

Inserting Exponents with Superscript

Another option for inserting exponents is to use the superscript feature of Google Docs to convert numbers to exponents.

Here are the steps to do this:

1. Open your Google Doc and select in your file where you want add the exponent

superscript-exponent-1

2. Type the number you want as you would normally. In this example, I am going to type 2 squared in my file (2^2), so I begin by just typing “22” first

superscript-exponent-2

3. Highlight the number that you want to change into an exponent

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4. In the top menu select Format>Superscript

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5. The number that you highlighted in step 3 will now be changed into Superscript

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Exponent Keyboard Shortcut

There is also a keyboard shortcut for typing superscript which can save you a lot of time when you need to add exponents to your file.

To type exponents using the keyboard shortcut:

  1. Press Ctrl + . (period symbol) on your keyboard
  2. Type the number you want as an exponent
  3. Press Ctrl + . again to exit superscript mode

Closing Thoughts

As with most things in Google Docs, there are multiple ways to get exponents in your file. Whether you want to type exponents to create math equations to raise things to powers in Google Docs, or whether you’re looking to add squared to your document, all of these methods will accomplish the same thing.

If you are new to these, we recommend you try all the methods until you figure out which one works best for you. The keyboard shortcut is definitely going to be the fastest method if you take the time to memorize this.

More Google Docs Tutorials:
How to Write Fractions
How to Make a Matrix