# How would one have an equation for an exponent?

How can I write 2^((n-1)/3) or anything similar in LaTeX? I am new to the whole thing, but I tried giving it a shot and it doesn't look the way I want it too. It looks like I am taking the 2 to the power of parenthesis, which is silly.

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Welcome to TeX.sx! A notation such as the one obtained by $2^{(n-1)/3}$ is rather common. – egreg Mar 2 '13 at 0:44
Welcome to TeX.sx! Take a look at How to write 1, 2, ... as a subscript to a letter? and get used to { } which groups (n-1)/2 so that the whole fraction gets “superscripted.” – Qrrbrbirlbel Mar 2 '13 at 1:08
The key to remember in LaTeX is that braces are the (unseen) grouping symbols. Therefore, after the ^ character, whatever is enclosed in braces {} will be the exponential – Steven B. Segletes Mar 2 '13 at 3:16
Thank you guys, you've helped a lot. – Chase Mar 4 '13 at 21:19
(n-1)/2 is an expression, not an equation (despite what MS Word says). But if you had an equation such as x=3, you could still form the expression $2^{x=3}$. – Matthew Leingang Apr 10 '13 at 0:25

$2^{(n-1)/3}$
$2^{\frac{n-1}{3}}$