Question

Imagine you have a function called product_4. product_4 takes four parameters, and it returns the product of the four numbers.

Enter the result of each of the following function calls. If an error would arise, enter "Error" (without quotes).
1. product_4(2, 2, 3,3)
2. product_4(7, 1, 1)

Answer 1

The result of product_4(2, 2, 3, 3) is 36. Calling product_4(7, 1, 1) would return an Error due to insufficient arguments. Multiplication rules for signs and exponents apply when calculating such products.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student's question involves a hypothetical function called product_4 that takes four parameters and computes their product. Let's evaluate the provided function calls:

1. product_4(2, 2, 3, 3) would return 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 which equals 36.
2. product_4(7, 1, 1) is called with only three arguments while the function expects four, so this would result in an Error.

In the context of exponents, an example like raising 5 to the power of 3 and then multiplying it four times (as in (5^3)^4) can be thought of as 5 multiplied by itself 12 times, which is 5^12. This demonstrates how multiplying exponents works.

Remember, multiplication rules for signs dictate that multiplying two positive numbers yields a positive result, multiplying two negative numbers also gives a positive result, and multiplying numbers with opposite signs results in a negative product.