Making exponents a reality.

The bacteria example:

y=a+b

y is the amount of bacteria you have in the end, a and b are colonies of bacteria you start with

y=a-b

In this case, if y is a negative value, like in y=-3 there is a fire that will roast your bacteria before it is doused from excessive carbon (read: dead bodies). (say, 3.)

y=a*n

Your bacteria arrange a meeting. After an instantaneous discussion, they agree to split up. Each bacterium isolates itself in a corner and undergoes n-ary fission (like, if n=2 => binary fission). After pioneering a colony, each colony return back to give you y.

a is negative

The stick providing your bonfire finds fellow sticks and spreads the fire to them.

y=a/n

Your bacteria face a devastating crisis. There is a shortage of food. Desperately, your bacteria arrange a meeting. All does not sail well. Vehement insults and curses are traded in the course of an instant. The bacteria take sides (totaling n factions). Each bacterium decides to join a smaller group for it will then be able to get more food. The remaining bacterium which cannot make up their mind decide to split themselves into n parts and join each faction. Unfortunately, due to the lack of sustenance, these poor spawn all fail to be an entire bacterium; only facets of a bacterium, only to become complete when otherwise circumstances allow them to grow (read: multiplication). In the end, only one faction survives; the others all lose their way.

y=a/0

In this case, your bacteria suffer from chronic indecision and all decide to split themselves up to as many parts as there are parts among the whole colony of bacteria. To this present day and age, they are still splitting up. (assuming that physics and chemistry is all a lie.)

a is negative

In this case, the sticks providing your bonfire wrestles with each other. Eventually, some triumph over the rest.

b is negative

In this case somebody from out of the bacterium world sneezes and your bacteria civilization realizes that it is somehow missing some people because it lives in the nose instead of gaining some because it lives outside.

y=a^x

Your bacteria gets eaten by a monster. The monster starts to vomit because it contracted salmonella. Upon further observation, we notice that the rate of which the amount of bacteria swallowed is exponentially proportional to the germs vomited.