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4 votes
Anja simplified the expression 10x^-5/-5x^10 to 15/x^15. What mistake did anja make?

User Darrylkuhn
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2 Answers

7 votes
well she made the mistake of dividing the coefficient and the variable with the exponent wrong. we can look at this like
(10 * x^-5) / (-5 * x^10)

we can actually factor out the 10 and the 1/-5 ans get 2 fractions to see this clearer.
(10 / -5) * (x^-5 / x^10)

we can clearly say
10/-5 = -2

now the other one. when stuff that has exponents, as long as they have the same base we just subtract the exponents. so:
(x^-5 / x^10) =
x^(-5 - 10) =
x^-15

put those 2 together
(-2) * (x^-15)
-2x^-15
User Jasmo
by
5.9k points
3 votes

Answer:

She subtracted the coefficients instead of dividing them

Explanation:

User David Fox
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6.8k points