Indices are often referred to as powers of a number. A power of a number is the number of times you multiply that number by itself. The indices laws are the rules for how these numbers can be manipulated to suit the problem you wish to solve. An example would be if you were asked to calculate (32)2. This would mean that you need to calculate (3x3)x(3x3), which is the same as 3x3x3x3, which is the same as 34 giving us the first indices law that (na)b is the same as n(axb). In this particular case the final answer would be 81 however the important thing to note is the method and the way the method is simplified by the indices law.