To be honest I got this just by looking at it 3 to the power X + X = 30 3 squared would be too small ............. 3 x 3 = 9 and another 3 would be 11 and 3 to the power 4 would be to big .. 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 is already bigger than 30 So it had to be X = 3 27 + 3 = 30