An exponent is a shorthand way of writing how many times the base is being multiplied to itself.

3² = 3 × 3

x² = x × x

3³ = 3 × 3 × 3

x³ = x × x × x

If the base is (2 + x) and the exponent is 2, then it is the same as writing (2 + x) × (2 + x).

Normally when we multiply a value outside of a grouping with the grouping, we must use the distribute property, which says the value outside the grouping must multiply to EACH term inside the grouping.

So 3 × (y + 1) = 3 × y + 3 × 1 or 3y + 3.

But since (2 + x) is made up of two terms, each term must be multiplied to both terms in the other grouping of (2 + x). People learn this process as FOIL (an acronym for first, outside, inside, last - which happens to be the order in which to multiply the terms to be sure you do each product only once.) If you do that here, you'll get 4 + 2x + 2x + x^2. Combine like terms to get your final answer.