INDICES

Worksheet 1 – Using Index Notation

1. Write the following using index notation:

(a) 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 (b) 7 × 7 × 7 × 7 × 7 × 7 (c) 4 × 4 × 4
(d) 10 × 10 × 10 × 10 × 10 (e) 6 × 6 × 6 × 6 × 6 × 6 × 6
(f) 34 × 34

2. Write the following using index notation:

(a) y×y×y (b) p × p × p × p × p (c) s × s × s × s
(d) m × m × m × n × n (e) s × t × t × t × t
(f) a × a × b × b × a × b

3. Use your calculator to work out these values:

5
(a) 4 (b) 103 (c) 38 (d) 120
3
(e) 12 (f) 76 (g) (-2)6 (h) 202

4. Use you calculator to work out these values:

5 2
(a) 4 x 3 (b) 73 x 24 (c) 103 - 102 (d) 73 ÷ 26

(e) 58 + 42 (f) 13 x 84 (g) 173 - 182 (h) 94 ÷ 38

5. Without using a calculator, evaluate the following:

(a) 82 (b) 104 (c) 16 (d) 121

5 2 5 3 3 3
(e) 2 (f) (½) (g) 10 – 10 (h) 3 + 5
Worksheet 2 – Using the laws of indices

1. Simplify the following expressions without using a calculator. Leave your

answers in index form:
(a) 52 × 54 = (b) 35 × 33 = (c) 108 × 107 =

(d) 212 × 23 = (e) a6 × a-3 = (f) f21 × f13 =

(g) 69 ÷ 64 = (h) 1215 ÷ 122 = (i) 45 ÷ 43 =

(j) 208 ÷ 205 = (k) m15 ÷ m8 = (l) n4 ÷ n2 =

(m) (42)5 = (n) (84)3 = (o) (p12)4 =

(p) (305)10 = (q) (137)11 = (r) (t9)6 =

2. Simplify the following expressions without using a calculator. Leave your

answers in index form:

(a) 92 × 94 × 93 = (b) 35 × 36 ÷ 32 = (c) (45)3 × 410 =

(d) (d7 × d2)6 = (e) (y12 ÷ y4)5 = (f) (k8 × k21 ÷ k7)2 =

(g) r23 ÷ (r3)5 = (h) (s0 × s4)2 ÷ s5 = (i) p18 × (p4 ÷ p2)3 =

(j) w9 × w2 = (k) (g5 × g2)3 = (l) j4 × j8 3

=
w5 × w3 g4 × g10 j9 ÷ j2
Worksheet 3 – Negative indices
Question 1: Evaluate each of the following

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f)

(g) (h) (i) (j) (k) (l)

(m) (n) (o) (p) (q) (r)

Question 2: Write each of the following in index form.

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f)

Question 3: Write each of the following in the form

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f)

Question 4: Write each of the following in the form

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f)

Question 5: Write each of the following as fractions

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f)

Question 6: Write each of the following in index form

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f)

Question 7: Write each of the following as fractions

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f)

© CORBETTMATHS 2016
 Worksheet 4 Indices Year 10 Track 2

The index of a number says how many times to use the

number in a multiplication.
It is written as a small number to the right and above the
base number.
In this example: 52 = 5 × 5 = 25
The plural of index is indices.

Question 1: Shorten these expressions by writing them in index form:

a. × × d. × × × ×
b. × e. × ×
c. × × × ×

Question 2: Write these expressions in full, using multiplication symbols.

a. b. d.
c. e.

Rule 1: Suppose we have and we want to multiply it by .

That is × = a×a×a × a×a

Altogether there are five a’s multiplied together. Clearly, this is the same as .

The first rule tells us that if we are multiplying expressions with the same base then we
add the indices together.

Key Point
× =

Question 3: Simplify these expressions:

expressions
a. × f. × × k. 2 × 4 × 3
b. × g. 2 ×4 l. × × 16
c. × h. 8 ×2 m. 10 × 10
d. 6 × × i. ×2 n. 3 × 4 ×3
e. × × j. 5 ×6

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 Indices Year 10 Track 2

Rule 2:

Consider dividing by .

× × × × × ×
÷ =
× ×

We can now begin dividing out the common factors of a.

Three of the a’s at the top and the three a’s at the bottom can be divided out, so we are

now left with that is .

The same answer is obtained by subtracting the indices, that is, 7 − 3 = 4.

Key Point
÷ =

Question 4: Simplify the following:

a) ÷ d) 12 ÷4 g) 32 ÷8
b) ÷ e) 8ℎ ÷ 8ℎ h) ÷
c) ÷ f) i)

Rule 3:

Let’s have a look at divided by .

We are dividing a quantity by itself, so the answer has got to be 1.

Rule 3 tells us that to divide the two quantities we subtract the indices:

÷ = =

Since when we are dividing all the a’s cancel out we are left with 1 as an answer.

Key Point
Anything to the power 0 is equal to 1, i.e. =1

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 Indices Year 10 Track 2

Question 5: Evaluate:
a) 8 c) 3 e) 9 + ( )
b) 0.4 d) (4 )
f) 3 + 19

Rule 4: Suppose we had and we want to raise it all to the power 3.

That is ( )

This means × ×

Now our first rule tells us that we should add the indices together.

So that is

But note also that 12 is 4 × 3.

This suggests that if we have all raised to the power the result is obtained by
multiplying the two powers to get .

Key Point
×
( ) =

Question 6: Simplify the following expressions:

a) ( ) c) 2( ) e) 4(2 )
b) (0.5 ) d) (3 ) f) 6( )

Question 7: Using the rules of indices, simplify the following expressions:

a) 6 ×2 d) g) ×

b) 3 ×4 h) (4 ) ÷8
e) ×6
c) 9 ÷3 ×
f) 15 ÷3 i)

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 Indices Year 10 Track 2

Rule 5: Consider divided by .

× ×
÷ = =
× × × × × ×

Again, we can now begin dividing out the common factors of a.

The 3 a’s at the top and three of the a’s at the bottom can be divided out, so we are now
left with: × × ×
=

Now let’s use our third rule and do the same calculation by subtracting the indices.

÷ = =

So = .

So a negative sign in the index means the reciprocal of the base.

Key Point
= or =

Question 8: Evaluate each of the following:

a) 5 b) 3 c) 7 d) 10 e) 2

Question 9: Write each of the following in index form:

a) b) c)

Question 10: Write each of the following in the form 2

a) b) c) d)

Question 11: Write each of the following in the form 5

a) b) c) d)

Question 12: Write each of the following as fractions:

a) b) c) 2 d) 4 e) 8

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 Indices Year 10 Track 2

Question 13: Write as a single term in index form:

a) 5 ×7 e)
b) 4 ×6
f) ÷ ×
c) 20 ÷4
g) × ÷
d) 27ℎ ÷ 3ℎ
h) (3 )

Question 14: Work out:

a) 4 ×3 e) ( ) ×4
b) 10 ÷5
f) ( ) ×( )
c) 16 × 16 ÷ 16
g) ( ) × 14
d) 2 +3 ×2

Question 15: Put the following in ascending order:

5 ( ) 5 4 7

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Worksheet 5

Exercise 1: Put the correct index (power) on the left hand side to make these equations
equal:

(a) 2 = 8 (b) 10 = 1 000 000 (c) 9 = 729

(d) 7 = 49 (e) 100 = 1 000 000 (f) 9 =1

Exercise 2: Without using a calculator, simplify these expressions to find the missing
power:

(a) 92 × 36 = 3 (b) 10 000 ÷ 102 = 10 (c) 252 × 53 = 5

(d) 642 ÷ 43 = 4 (e) 144 × 125 = 12 (f) (34)2× 27 = 3

(g) 45 ÷ 2 =2 (h) 115 × 1212 = 11 (i) (163 × 24) ÷ 23 = 2