112k views
8 votes
Solve the math problem

Solve the math problem-example-1
User Honcheng
by
3.9k points

1 Answer

10 votes

Explanation:

we cannot "solve" it, as we don't know anything about y or k, by we can "simplify" it.

as multiplication is commutative, we can split the whole expression into multiplication factors, simplify each factor, and then out the results back together as one large multiplication.

and remember for the simplification of exponents, multiplying terms with the same base means adding the exponents, dividing terms with the same base means subtracting the denominator exponent from the numerator exponent.

and a^-b = 1/(a^b).

so, we could see the main expression as

(-4/-8)×(y⁶/y⁹)×(k²/k⁵)

(-4/-8) = 1/2

(y⁶/y⁹) = y^-3 = 1/y³

(k²/k⁵) = k^-3 = 1/k³

because e.g.

y⁶/y⁹ = (y×y×y×y×y×y)/(y×y×y×y×y×y×y×y×y) = 1/(y×y×y)

putting the results back together gives us

1/2 × 1/y³ × 1/k³ = 1/(2y³k³)

User Rmalchow
by
3.8k points