Question

Simplify this expression, wrote the answer with positive exponents only.

Answer 1

Given the expression:

`(xy^3)^2(x^2y)^(-1)`

for the left factor, we can multiply the exponents to get the following:

`(xy^3)^2=x^2y^(3\cdot2)=x^2y^6`

and the right factor can be written like this:

`(x^2y)^(-1)=(1)/(x^2y)`

if we combine these results on the original expression, we get:

`(xy^3)^2(x^2y)^(-1)=(x^2y^6)\cdot(1)/(x^2y)=(x^2y^6)/(x^2y)=y^5`

therefore, the simplified expression is y⁵