The answer is 56. work is shown below.
Step 1: apply 2nd power to everything inside parentheses
(7 - 1)² = 7² - 1²
Step 2: apply exponents (remember, exponents are a shorter way to express a number multiplied by itself a number of times).
1 x 1 = 1
7 x 7 = 49
Step 3: subtract
49 - 1 = 48
Step 4: apply exponent
2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = (2 x 2) x (2 x 2)
2 x 2 = 4
2 x 2 = 4
4 x 4 = 16
2⁴ = 16
Step 5: add
48 + 16 = 64
Step 6 (final step): subtract
64 - 8 = 56
final answer: 56
