Question

Is there an easy way to mentally calculate 2^n (where n can be any natural no.)?

Answer 1

memory
1 2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256 512 1024 ...

Answer 2

1?

Answer 3

2^0

Answer 4

0 is not a natural no

Answer 5

some include 0 as natural number while some do not
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_number

Answer 6

what about 54,55,56,... you can't just memories them all !

Answer 7

lol
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi#Memorizing_digits

Answer 8

the best way is to memorize up to 2^10 ... or 2^something ... then multiply it by two until your you get your result.

Answer 9

Use the calculator \[x ^{y}\] button.

Answer 10

why would you ever need 2^54 or something that large?

Answer 11

haha ... agree with radar!!

Answer 12

I realize that is not really a "mentally" way, but when you get above 2^7 that would be the way I would do it mentally.

Answer 13

use the tools.

Answer 14

@experimentX , 0 can not be an element of N.

Answer 15

I looked into wikipedia .... it said that 0 is still debated as it is an element of N or not

Answer 16

besides ... the question hardly focuses on 0 is a natural number or not ... and i'm in no position to argue that

Answer 17

any natural number at all? seems doubtful since this grows very large very fact. but i count on my fingers, doubling each time
two
four
eight
sixteen
thirty two
sixty four
one twenty eight
two fifty six
five twelve
ten twenty four

it helps to be old an remember when a computer actually came with
one twenty eight
two fifty six or
five twelve megs, so those numbers are familiar.