What is the result of the operation 2^3?

The operation ( 2^3 ) signifies raising the number 2 to the power of 3. This means you multiply the base, which is 2, by itself a total of 3 times.

To calculate this, you perform the multiplication as follows:

[

2 \times 2 \times 2

]

1. First, multiply the first two 2's:

[

2 \times 2 = 4

]

2. Next, take that result and multiply it by the last 2:

[

4 \times 2 = 8

]

Therefore, ( 2^3 = 8 ). This is why the correct answer is 8.

The incorrect options stem from misunderstanding the concept of exponentiation. For instance, adding or subtracting the numbers from 2 or performing any operation other than multiplication will lead to values that do not represent ( 2^3 ) accurately.