Question

Express in exponent form with a prime number base:

1/16

Please explain it so I can finish the rest and understand it

Answer 1

`2^(-4)`

Explanation:

`(1)/(16)` can be writing
`(1)/(2x2x2x2)` Which is the same as
`(1)/(2^(4) )` If you want your exponent to be on top (the numerator) , You would write it as
`2^(-4)`

I cannot write it as
`2^(4)` because that would mean 2x2x2x2 which is different than
`(1)/(2x2x2x2)` These are two different numbers, so when we switch an exponent from the top to the bottom or from the bottom to the top, we need to change the exponent from positive to negative or negative to positive depending on what it started out being.

I hope that makes sense.