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What is the negative exponent rule

User Mwalter
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1 Answer

5 votes

Answer:

a^(-n) = 1/(a^n)

In words, this rule says that if you have a base "a" raised to a negative exponent "-n", you can simplify the expression by flipping the base to the reciprocal (1/a), and changing the sign of the exponent to positive "n".

For example, let's say we have the expression 2^(-3). Using the negative exponent rule, we can simplify this as follows:

2^(-3) = 1/(2^3) = 1/8

So, 2^(-3) is equivalent to 1/8.

User JoseJC
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