Exponents

[Pinkjess182]

4x²
X Would be simplified to 4x?


2x³
x² Would be simplified to 2x?


Do you just subtract the bottom exponent from the top exponent?

 

[Deleted member 4993]

4x²
X Would be simplified to 4x?


2x³
x² Would be simplified to 2x?


Do you just subtract the bottom exponent from the top exponent?............yes ..........as long as x is not equal to 0

Law of exponent:

\(\displaystyle \dfrac{a^m}{a^n} \ = \ a^{(m-n)} \ or \ a^{m-n}\) ..... when \(\displaystyle a \ \ne 0\)

 

[HallsofIvy]

In other words, as long as x is not 0 (in which case the fraction would be meaningless), yes. In addition to the rule for subtracting exponents, you could think of these easy cases as \(\displaystyle \frac{4(x)(x)}{x}\) and \(\displaystyle \frac{2(x^2)(x)}{x^2}\) and cancel "x" in the first case and "\(\displaystyle x^2\)" in the second.

(I call these "easy cases" because I would much rather subtract exponents than write out all of the "x"s in \(\displaystyle \frac{3x^{3223}}{x^{1223}}\)!)

 

[Pinkjess182]

Thanks for the help!

 

[Pinkjess182]

Also, what if the exponents in the numerator were lower than the exponents in the denominator?

a²b²
a³b³ ( don't mind the messed up fraction line)

What would the answer be then?