How do you simplify $(3/y)^4$ ?

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Answer 1 · 2016-08-30T21:40:37

You can simplify it to $(3^4/y^4)$ or $(81/y^4)$

So one of the properties of exponents is that they distribute.
For example, if you have $(x)^3$ , it distributes to be $x^3$ .

In a better example, $(2/3)^2$ is equal to $(2^2/3^2)$ . This is equal to $((2 * 2)/(3 * 3))$ and $(4/9)$ .

So, taking your problem into my hands, we have $(3/y)^4$ which can be simplified to $(3^4/y^4)$ and that to $((3*3*3*3)/y)$ and that to $(81/y^4)$ .

If an exponent is outside of a fraction, it distributes to both the numerator and denominator.

Have a good day!

How do you simplify (3/y)^4 (3/y)^4?