Answer:
see explanation
Step-by-step explanation:
The most likely error is adding the exponents instead of multiplying them, that is
[tex](a^{m}) ^{n}[/tex] = [tex]a^{mn}[/tex] , then [tex](3^{3}) ^{1}[/tex] = [tex]3^{3(1)}[/tex] = 3³ = 27
However
[tex]a^{m}[/tex] × [tex]a^{n}[/tex] = [tex]a^{(m+n)}[/tex] ← the student may have used this definition to obtain 81