When the bases are diffenrent and the exponents of a and b are the same, we can multiply a and b first:
a n ⋅ b n = (a ⋅ b) n
Example:
32 ⋅ 42 = (3⋅4)2 = 122 = 12⋅12 = 144
When the bases and the exponents are different we have to calculate each exponent and then multiply:
a n ⋅ b m
Example:
32 ⋅ 43 = 9 ⋅ 64 = 576
