How do you simplify $b^5 • b^4$ ?

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Answer 1 · 2016-04-24T08:26:17

$b^9$

Notice that for a positive integer $n$ , we can define:

$b^n = overbrace(b * b * ... * b)^"n times"$

So we find:

$b^m * b^n = overbrace(b * b * ... * b)^"m times" * overbrace(b * b * ... * b)^"n times"$

$=overbrace(b * b * ... * b)^"m + n times"$

$=b^(m+n)$

So in particular:

$b^5 * b^4 = b^(5+4) = b^9$

How do you simplify b^5 • b^4b^5 • b^4?