Sunday, March 11, 2012

Exponents

This past week we've recently learned about exponents. There are many different steps you must follow in order to correctly solve these problems.


Steps:


  1. b^x * b^y = b^ x + y


  1. b^x / b^y = b^ x-y


  1. any number raised to the 0 = 1


  1. (ab)^x = a^x b^x


  1. (a/b)^x = a^x/b^x


  1. (b^x) ^y = b^xy


  1. nth root of a = a^1/n


  1. nth root of a^y = a^y/n


  1. x^-n = 1/x^n


  1. a * b^x = cant simplify (pemdas)


  1. (-a)^2 = positive number


  1. -a^2 = negative number


EX 1


(-4)^-2 = ?


  • Since the 4 is in parentheses, the number will be positive.

  • Because the number is raised to a negative exponent, you would take the reciprocal of 4^2, which is 1/16

  • Your answer is 1/16.


EX 2


(3n^2) ^-1 (3n^2) ^7 = ?


  • 3 ^ -1+ 3 ^ 7= 3^6

  • n^-2+14= n^12

  • Your answer is 3^6n^12

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