Final answer:
The expression (2/5)^-2 without the exponent becomes 25/4 or 6.25 by taking the reciprocal of 2/5 and then squaring it.
Step-by-step explanation:
To solve the expression (2/5)^-2 without an exponent, we need to understand how negative exponents work.
A negative exponent indicates that we take the reciprocal (or inverse) of the base and then raise it to the corresponding positive exponent.
So, for (2/5)^-2, we would first take the reciprocal of 2/5, which is 5/2, and then square it (because of the exponent -2).
Squaring the reciprocal, we get:
(5/2)^2 = (5^2) / (2^2) = 25 / 4
Therefore, (2/5)^-2 without the exponent is simply 25 / 4 or 6.25.