Prince Jomarie R.

Araneta
8 – Charity
Mr. Manuel Kotah
 GENERAL RULE OF EXPONENTS

 Applying The Properties of Exponents to Simplify Expressions

In Grade 7, we discussed positive exponents. The following three rules were given:

Rule 1 xa · xb = xa+b

When powers of the same base are multiplied, their exponents are added.

Example: x2 · x5 = x2+5 = x7

Rule 2 (xa)b = xab

When a power is raised to a power, the exponents are multiplied.

Example: (x3)2 = x3·2 = x6

Rule 3 xa/xb = xa-b if a ≥ b

xa/xb = 1/xb-a if a < b

When a power is divided by another power, the smaller exponent is subtracted from the
larger exponent.

Example:
a. x5/x2 = x5-2 = x3 b. x3/x5 = 1/x5-3 = 1/x2

We will now use the Rule 3 to verify the definitions of zero and negative exponents.

Rule 4 x0 = 1

Negative Exponents

Rule 5 x-n = 1/xn

PRACTICE EXERCISE:
1. x5 · x4 = x9 6. z10/z4 = z6
2. 2 3 · 22 = 2 5 = 32 7. 7-1 = 1/7
3. y6 · y3 = y9 8. 2 -3 = 1/8
4. x5/x2 = x3 9. y0 = 1
5. 36/34 = 32 = 9 10. 70 = 1