Grade 7 Math LESSON 21: LAWS OF EXPONENTS LEARNING GUIDE

GRADE 7 MATH LEARNING GUIDE

Lesson 21: Laws of Exponents Time: 1.5 hours
Pre-requisite Concepts: Multiplication of real numbers
About the Lesson: This lesson is all about the laws of exponents.
Objectives:
In this lesson, the students must be able to:
1) define and interpret the meaning of an where n is a positive integer;
2) derive inductively the Laws of Exponents (restricted to positive integers)
3) illustrate the Laws of Exponents.

Lesson Proper
I. Activity 1
Give the product of each of the following as fast as you can.
1) 3 x 3 = ________
2) 4 x 4 x 4 = ________
3) 5 x 5 x 5 = ________
4) 2 x 2 x 2 = ________
5) 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = ________
6) 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = ________

II. Development of the Lesson

Discovering the Laws of Exponents

A) an = a x a x a x a ….. (n times)

In an, a is called the base and n is called the exponent

Exercises
1) Which of the following is/are correct?
a) 42 = 4 x 4 = 16
b) 24 = 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 8
c) 25 = 2 x 5 = 10
d) 33 = 3 x 3 x 3 = 27
2) Give the value of each of the following as fast as you can.

a) 23 b) 25 c) 34 d) 106

Activity 2
Evaluate the following. Investigate the result. Make a simple conjecture on it. The first two are
done for you.
1) (23)2 = 23 • 23 = 2 • 2 • 2 • 2 • 2 • 2 = 64
2) (x4)3 = x4 • x4 • x4 = x • x • x • x • x • x • x • x • x • x • x • x = x12
3) (32)2 =
4) (22)3 =
5) (a2)5=

AUTHOR: Lambert G. Quesada 1  

 
Grade 7 Math LESSON 21: LAWS OF EXPONENTS LEARNING GUIDE

Did you notice something?

What can you conclude about (an)m? What will you do with a, n and m?
What about these?
1) (x100)3
2) (y12)5

Activity 3
Evaluate the following. Notice that the bases are the same. The first example is done for you.
1) (23)(22) = 2 • 2 • 2 • 2 • 2 = 25 = 32
2) (x5)(x4) =
3) (32)(34) =
4) (24)(25) =
5) (x3)(x4) =

Did you notice something?

What can you conclude about an • am? What will you do with a, n and m?
What about these?
1) (x32)(x25)
2) (y59)(y51)

Activity 4
Evaluate each of the following. Notice that the bases are the same. The first example is done for
you.

1) = = 16 --- remember that 16 is the same as 24

2) =

3) =

4) =

Did you notice something?

What can you conclude about ? What will you do with a, n and m?
What about these?

1)

2)

AUTHOR: Lambert G. Quesada 2  

 
Grade 7 Math LESSON 21: LAWS OF EXPONENTS LEARNING GUIDE

Summary:
Laws of exponent
1) an = a • a • a • a • a….. (n times)

2) (an)m = anm power of powers

3) an • am = am+n product of a power

4) =an – m quotient of a power

5) a0 = 1 where a ≠ 0 law for zero exponent

What about these?

a) (7,654,321)0
b) 30 + x0 + (3y)0

Exercise:
Choose a Law of Exponent to apply. Complete the table and observe. Make a conjecture.
No. Result Applying a law GIVEN (Start ANSWER REASON
of Exponent here)

1)

2)

3)

4)

6) a-n and law for negative exponent

Can you rewrite the fractions below using exponents and simplify them?
a)

b)

c)

What did you notice?

AUTHOR: Lambert G. Quesada 3  

 
Grade 7 Math LESSON 21: LAWS OF EXPONENTS LEARNING GUIDE

What about these?

d) x-2

e) 3-3

f) (5-3)-2

III. Exercises

A. Evaluate each of the following.

1) 28 6) (23)3
2) 82 7) (24)(23)
3) 5-1 8) (32)(23)
4) 3-2 9) x0 + 3-1 – 22
5) 180 10 [22 – 33 + 44]0

B. Simplify each of the following.

1) (x10)(x12) 7)

2) (y-3)(y8) 8)

3) (m15)3 9)

4) (d-3)2 10)

5) (a-4)-4 11)

6)

Summary
In these lessons, you learned some laws of exponents.

AUTHOR: Lambert G. Quesada 4