Final answer:
To simplify (-12 / 4)^2, first reduce the fraction to -3, then square it to get 9.
Step-by-step explanation:
To simplify the expression (-12 / 4)^2, we first simplify the fraction inside the parentheses.
The fraction -12/4 can be simplified to -3, as 12 divided by 4 is 3, and the negative sign carries over.
Once we have this simplified fraction, we can apply the square (exponent of 2).
Squaring -3 gives us 9, because (-3) × (-3) equals 9.
This is also an example of simplifying a perfect square, which means we take the square root of both sides when solving equations.