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Distinct Powers

 Published on Friday, 25th October 2002, 06:00 pm; Solved by 111511;
Difficulty rating: 5%

Problem 29

Consider all integer combinations of $a^b$ for $2 \le a \le 5$ and $2 \le b \le 5$:

\begin{matrix} 2^2=4, &2^3=8, &2^4=16, &2^5=32\\ 3^2=9, &3^3=27, &3^4=81, &3^5=243\\ 4^2=16, &4^3=64, &4^4=256, &4^5=1024\\ 5^2=25, &5^3=125, &5^4=625, &5^5=3125 \end{matrix}

If they are then placed in numerical order, with any repeats removed, we get the following sequence of $15$ distinct terms: $$4, 8, 9, 16, 25, 27, 32, 64, 81, 125, 243, 256, 625, 1024, 3125.$$

How many distinct terms are in the sequence generated by $a^b$ for $2 \le a \le 100$ and $2 \le b \le 100$?