Why is anything to the power of one it self?

Answer 1

The number is being multiplied by itself. For example, 11( 1 to the first power) is the same as this: 1 x itself,1. This applies to any other number... 4 (41 is the same as itself).

Actually, the reason is in the definition of exponentiation.

an means a x a x a x... x a (n times)

a1= a

a2= a x a

a3= a x a x a

etc.

As you can see, any number to the power of one is, by definition, the same number. In this case no multiplications are involved.