Final answer:
The total bugs eaten by the snakes over two days expressed using an exponent is 2 to the power of 3, which equals 8 bugs.
Step-by-step explanation:
The correct answer to how many total bugs were eaten as an expression using an exponent is 23. Since there are 2 snakes and each snake eats 2 bugs every day for 2 days, you would multiply the number of snakes (2) by the number of bugs eaten per day by one snake (2), and then by the number of days (2). Using exponents, this can be expressed as 23, where '2' is the base and '3' is the exponent, signifying that 2 is multiplied by itself 3 times. The expression 23 represents 2 x 2 x 2, which equals 8. Therefore, the snakes ate a total of 8 bugs in 2 days.
To find the total number of bugs eaten, we need to multiply the number of bugs eaten each day by the number of days. Since each snake ate 2 bugs every day for 2 days in a row, we can express the total bugs eaten as:
2 x 2 x 2 = 22 x 2 = 23 = 8 bugs
Therefore, a total of 8 bugs were eaten by the snakes.