Answer:
a = 8
Explanation:
This is the equation:
(x⁴)(xᵃ) = x¹²
What you need to remember here is that when you multiply the same base term (the x), you get to just add the exponents.
So because x is the same in both terms, you would add the exponents 4 and 'a', and that equals 12:
4 + a = 12
a = 12 - 4 = 8
Want to know why that works?
x⁴ physically means: x·x·x·x
x¹² physically means: x·x·x·x·x·x·x·x·x·x·x·x
So how many more x's do you need to get from 4 of them to 12 of them? 8, so x⁸.