Name: ________________________ Date: ____________________

Practice with Negative Exponents

Taken from Eureka Lesson 9:

Write each expression using positive exponents:

a. a−3=¿

1
b. −3
4

c. b−5=¿

1
d. −9
h
 e. 10−80=¿

For each of the following problems, apply the rule of negative exponents to rewrite each expression with positive
exponents.

1 x2
Ex 1. =
5 x −2 5

Key takeaways:

 Only the x had a negative exponent, so nothing happened to the 5

 The base of x−2was moved to the numerator because we took the reciprocal
 The exponent of x−2 switched signs (from negative to positive) after we took the reciprocal

2
−3 2 b
Ex 2. a b=
a3

Key takeaways:

 Only the ‘a’ had a negative exponent, so nothing happened to the ‘b’
 The base of a−3was moved to the denominator because we took the reciprocal
 The exponent of a−3 switched signs (from negative to positive) after we took the reciprocal