Coloring (LaTeX) an Exponent Diff than Its Base - Displays but Screen Reader Will Not Read

[JoyHolly]

I'm using the LaTeX advanced mode (direct edit mode--whatever it's called in the new equation editor) to specify a different color for the base number v. the exponent. What I do displays correctly but when tested with a screen reader, it will not read the equation. (If I make the base number and the exponent the same color, the screen reader will read the equation as expected.)

Is it possible to code it so the base number is one color, the exponent another?--and hopefully if I do this correctly, the screen reader will also read the equation as expected.

Here is what I'm trying to do:

\color{#red}{3}\color{blue}{^{4}} =\color{red}{3\cdot 3\cdot 3\cdot 3}=81

This displays fine, with the red 3 raised to the blue 4th power and the rest of the equation colored as expected. But it won't read (by a screen reader) unless I color both the 3 (the base) and the 4 (the exponent) the same color. Maybe there is some other way to bracket this? Is the LaTeX valid? And if it is valid, is the reason it can't be read by a screen reader then more likely something like a MathJax issue?

[JoyHolly · Accepted solution]

With the help of a developer on the Tex stack exchange, I found out what was wrong with the code that was evidentially also confusing the screen reader. The correct code is (if anyone out there is ever dying to know how to color an exponent a different color than its base). I had the ^ in the wrong place and also should have put brackets around the entire exponent region (including the color designation):

\textcolor{#C50733}{3}^{\textcolor{blue}{4}}
=\textcolor{#C50733}{3\cdot 3\cdot 3\cdot 3}
=81