MATHEMATICS I/FBM0015

At the end of the module , you should be able to:

✓ introduce exponential notation including laws of

exponent, negative exponents & rational
exponents
✓ express a radical in a simplified form
✓ rationalize the denominator
▪ A product of identical numbers is usually written in
exponential notation

▪ If 𝑎 is any real number and 𝑛 is a positive integer

𝑛
𝑎 = 𝑎 × 𝑎 × 𝑎 × ⋯× 𝑎

𝑛 times
Exponent

𝑛
Base 𝑎 Exponent

▪ The number 𝑎 is called the base and 𝑛 the exponent

𝑛
▪ 𝑎 is read as ‘𝑎 to the power on 𝑛’
For a natural number 𝑛 and 𝑎 and 𝑏 are real numbers, 𝑎
is an 𝑛th root of 𝑏 if
𝑛
𝑎 =𝑏
Example
4
2 = 16 ⇒ 2 is the fourth root of 16
Example

4
1. 5 = 5 ∙ 5 ∙ 5 ∙ 5 = 625

1 5 1 1 1 1 1 1
2. = ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ =
2 2 2 2 2 2 32

3
3. −3 = −3 −3 −3 = −27
It is important to note that if 𝑛 is a positive integer, then
𝑛 𝑛 𝑛
an expression such as 3𝑎 means 3(𝑎 ) and not (3𝑎)
𝒏 𝒏
𝟑𝒂 = 𝟑(𝒂 )
𝒏 𝒏
𝟑𝒂 ≠ (𝟑𝒂)
 +
If 𝑚, 𝑛 ∈ ℚ and 𝑎, 𝑏 ∈ ℝ , then
▪ 𝑎𝑚 × 𝑎𝑛 = 𝑎𝑚+𝑛
𝑚 𝑛 𝑚−𝑛
▪ 𝑎 ÷𝑎 =𝑎
𝑎𝑚 𝑚−𝑛 1
▪ =𝑎 = , 𝑎≠0
𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑛−𝑚
 𝑚 𝑛 𝑚×𝑛
▪ 𝑎 =𝑎
𝑚 𝑚 𝑚
▪ 𝑎 ×𝑏 = 𝑎×𝑏
𝑚 𝑚 𝑚 𝑎 𝑚
▪ 𝑎 ÷𝑏 = 𝑎÷𝑏 = , 𝑏≠0
𝑏
Zero Exponent
When 𝑚 = 𝑛,
𝑎𝑛 ÷ 𝑎𝑛 = 𝑎𝑛−𝑛 = 𝑎0
Using division,
𝑛
𝑎
𝑎𝑛 ÷ 𝑎𝑛 = 𝑛 = 1
𝑎
Therefore,
𝑎0 = 1
Negative Exponent
When 𝑚 = 0,
0 𝑛 0−𝑛 −𝑛
𝑎 ÷𝑎 =𝑎 =𝑎
Using division,
0
0
𝑎 1𝑛
𝑎 ÷𝑎 = 𝑛 = 𝑛
𝑎 𝑎
Therefore,
−𝑛
1
𝑎 = 𝑛
𝑎
The following theorem is useful for problems that
involve negative exponents

−𝑚 𝑛 −𝑛 𝑛
𝑎 𝑏 𝑎 𝑏
−𝑛
= 𝑚 =
𝑏 𝑎 𝑏 𝑎
Proof Using Properties of Negative Exponents & Quotients

−𝑚
1 𝑛 𝑛
𝑎 𝑎 𝑚 1 𝑏 𝑏
= = 𝑚∙ = 𝑚
𝑏 −𝑛 1 𝑎 1 𝑎
𝑏 𝑛

−𝑛 −𝑛 𝑛 𝑛
𝑎 𝑎 𝑏𝑏
= = 𝑛=
𝑏 𝑏 −𝑛 𝑎 𝑎
Example 1

Simplify

3
8𝑥 𝑦 −5

4𝑥 −1 𝑦 2
Solution:
8𝑥 3 𝑦 −5 8𝑥 3 𝑦 −5 Rearrange quotients so that the
−1 2
= 2 ∙ −1 negative exponents are in one
4𝑥 𝑦 4𝑦 𝑥
fraction
8𝑥 3 𝑦 −5 2𝑥 3 𝑥 1 Theorem on negative exponents
= ∙
4𝑥 −1 𝑦 2 𝑦2 𝑦5
3 −5 4
8𝑥 𝑦 2𝑥
=
4𝑥 −1 𝑦 2 𝑦7
Example 2

Simplify

2 −3
𝑢
2𝑣
Example 3

Simplify

2
𝑥 𝑦 −3 2

−1
𝑥 𝑦 4 −3
Example 4

Simplify

1 1
𝑥2 𝑦5
2 9
− −
𝑥 3 𝑦 5
Example 5

Simplify

1 1 −3
𝑎3 𝑏2
1 1 2
−
𝑎 2 𝑏4
Rational Exponent

𝑚 𝑛 𝑏

𝑚 1 𝑚
𝑏𝑛 = 𝑏𝑛 −
𝑚 1
1
𝑏 𝑛 = 𝑚
= 𝑚
𝑏 𝑛 𝑏𝑛

* When 𝑛 is even, 𝑏 cannot be negative

Example 6

Simplify

3
16 2
Solution:
3 1 3
16 =
2 162
3
3
16 = 4
2

3
16 = 64
2
▪Radicals (or “roots”) are the “opposite” operation of
applying exponents
▪It is sometimes more convenient to use radical notation
for rational exponents
1
𝑛
▪Example: 𝑏 = 𝑛 𝑏
Definition
For a positive integer 𝑛 ≥ 2 and a real number 𝑏,
𝑛
𝑏
is the principal 𝒏𝒕𝒉 root of 𝑏
or the 𝒏𝒕𝒉 root radical
Definition

Radical
𝑛
Index
𝑏
Radicand
To express a radical in a simplified form, the following
must be satisfied:
1. A factor in the radicand is not raised to a power
greater than or equal to the index
Example: 𝑥 3 simplified to 𝑥 𝑥
2. The power of the radicand does not share a common
factor with the index
8 4
Example: 𝑥6 simplified to 𝑥3
3. A denominator does not contain a radical
1 𝑥
Example: simplified to
𝑥 𝑥
4. A radical does not contain a fraction
3 15
Example: simplified to
5 5

3 3 3 5 15
= = ∙ =
5 5 5 5 5
 𝑛 𝑛 𝑛
𝑎𝑏 = 𝑎 𝑏

3 3
50 = 25 ∙ 2 −108 = −27 4
3 3
= 25 ∙ 2 = −27 ∙ 4
3
=5 2 = −3 4
 𝑛
𝑛 𝑎 𝑎 𝑚 𝑛 𝑚𝑛
= 𝑛 𝑎= 𝑎
𝑏 𝑏

3 3 3 2(3) 6
3 5 5 5 64 = 64 = 26 = 2
= 3 =
8 8 2
Reminder

𝑎 ≠ 0 and 𝑏 ≠ 0

▪ 𝑎2 + 𝑏2 ≠ 𝑎 + 𝑏

▪ 𝑎+𝑏 ≠ 𝑎+ 𝑏
Example

32 + 42 = 25 = 5 ≠ 3 + 4 = 7

4 + 9 = 13 ≠ 4 + 9 = 5
Exercise : Simplify the given functions
3
5. 2 𝑥 3 𝑥
1
2 6 2
1. 𝑟 𝑠 3 2
−
5
2𝑥 3 3𝑥 6
3 6. 1 1
2. 𝑎 𝑎 𝑦2 𝑦3
4 2 3 4 4 −3
𝑎 𝑥 𝑦 𝑥𝑦
3. 3 7.
𝑎2 𝑥2𝑦
3
4. 𝑥 7 3
8. 16 𝑥 3 𝑦 8 𝑧 4
 For fractions involving radicals, rationalizing the
denominator means simplifying it by getting rid of the
radicals i.e. rewriting a fraction
so that the denominator contains no radical
 Multiply numerator
Factor in the
and denominator Resulting factor
denominator
by
𝑎 𝑎 𝑎 𝑎= 𝑎2 = 𝑎

3 3 3 3
𝑎 𝑎2 3
𝑎 𝑎2 = 𝑎3 = 𝑎

7 7 7 7 7
𝑎3 𝑎4 𝑎 3 𝑎4 = 𝑎7 = 𝑎
 What happens if there are
two terms (radical) in the denominator?

1
𝑎+ 𝑏
Multiply both numerator and denominator with
conjugate

1 1 𝑎− 𝑏
= ∙
𝑎+ 𝑏 𝑎+ 𝑏 𝑎− 𝑏
1 𝑎− 𝑏
=
𝑎+ 𝑏 𝑎−𝑏
 These two factors

𝑎 + 𝑏 and 𝑎− 𝑏

are conjugates of each other

Example:
Rationalize the denominator
1
3+ 2
Solution:

1 1 3− 2
= ∙
3+ 2 3+ 2 3− 2
1 3− 2
=
3+ 2 9−2

1 3− 2
=
3+ 2 7
Exercise:
Rationalize the denominator for each of the following

3+ 2 8− 5
1. 3.
5− 2 3+ 5

6+ 3 9+5 2
2. 4.
2− 3 3+2 2