Two to the three or two to the third?

Question

I wonder if we can say "two to the three" to indicate 2 to the 3rd power.

Here are my attempts to search on Google for it:

And "two to the third" seems also OK:

Which one do you usually use?

Answer 1

There are three ways to express your phrase:

1. Two to the third power.

2. Two to the third.

3. Two to the power three.

Answer 2

I would always describe that in words as

2 to the 3rd (power)

or

2 cubed.

I would never say

Two to the Three

although I might say

Two to the power of three.

And as a person who majored in physics in college, and has been a software developer for several decades, I have had occasion to discuss raising number to powers many many times. I have never heard a native speaker who knows math say "Two to the three". When the exponent is not a whole number and does not nicely form an ordinal (like first, second, third, fourth) I would say

Two to the power of four point three

or

E to the X

or

E to the power of X