Answer:
[tex]y^6[/tex]
Step-by-step explanation:
So there is an exponent identity that states: [tex](x^b)^a = x^{a*b}[/tex] which means this question becomes: [tex](y^2)^3 = y^{2*3} = y^6[/tex].
Just so you completely understand why this works, it might help to express y^2, as what it truly represents: [tex]y^2=y*y[/tex]. So using this definition we can substitute it into the equation so it becomes: [tex](y*y)^3[/tex]. Now let's use the definition of exponents like we just did with the y, to redefine this in terms of multiplication: [tex](y*y)^3 = (y * y) * (y * y) * (y * y)[/tex]. We can just multiply all these out, and we get: [tex]y * y * y * y * y * y =y^6[/tex].
To make it a bit more general when we have the exponent: [tex]x^b[/tex] it can be expressed as: [tex](x*x*x...\text{ b amount of times})[/tex] now when we raise it to the power of a. we get: [tex](x * x * x...\text{ b amount of times})^a[/tex] which can further be rewritten using the definition of an exponent to become the equation: [tex](x*x*x\text... \text{ b amount of times}) * (x * x * x...\text{ b amount of times})...\text{ a amount of times}[/tex] which just simplifies to: [tex]x*x*x*x...\text{ a times b amount of times}[/tex]. Hopefully this makes the identity a bit more understandable
