How do you simplify $5 a^{- 1}$ $5a^-1$ and write it using only positive exponents?

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Answer 1 · 2017-10-11T01:42:23

See explanation

Just to add on, there is a general rule for this where

$x^{- n} = \frac{1}{x^{n}}$ $x^(-n)=1/x^n$

And this is always true if I'm not mistaking

A more complex example would be

$3 a^{- 4} \cdot b^{2} \cdot 5 c^{- 7}$ $3a^(-4)*b^2*5c^(-7)$ which will be rewritten as

$\frac{15 b^{2}}{a^{4} \cdot c^{7}}$ $(15b^2)/(a^4*c^7)$

How do you simplify 5a^-15a−15a^-1 and write it using only positive exponents?