1. Yes, exactly! The $2 + 1$ refers to the exponent of $x$ in the expression. 2. When integrating a power of $x$, like $x^n$, the exponent $n$ is increased by 1 to become $n+1$. 3. This is because the integral of $x^n$ is given by the formula: $$\int x^n \, dx = \frac{x^{n+1}}{n+1} + C$$ 4. So in your example, since the exponent is 2, we add 1 to get 3. 5. This means the integral becomes $\frac{x^3}{3} + C$. 6. The $2 + 1$ is simply the exponent of $x$ increased by 1 as part of the integration process.