Express the following as a simple fraction involving positive exponents only

asked Mar 28, 2023 134k views

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$Express the following as a simple fraction involving positive exponents only-example-1$

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Recall that if x≠0, then:

$\begin{gathered} x^(-m)=(1)/(x^m) \\ \text{where m is an integer.} \end{gathered}$

Therefore:

$2x^(-1)-5x^(-2)=(2)/(x)-(5)/(x^2)\text{.}$

Now, if x≠0, notice that:

$(2)/(x)=(2x)/(x^2)\text{.}$

Then:

$\begin{gathered} 2x^(-1)-5x^(-2)=(2x)/(x^2)-(5)/(x^2) \\ =(2x-5)/(x^2)\text{.} \end{gathered}$

Answer:

$(2x-5)/(x^2)\text{.}$

Blaze Tama answered Apr 1, 2023

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