Help please....Please Simplify

(-3a^-5 b^6)^4 (a^7b^0)^3

any ideas? thanks in advance!

User Icon for MathMate MathMate answered
15 years ago

First, I will assume that the -3 at the beginning will not be raised to the -5th power.

A little revision of the law of indices is in order:

(ab)^n = a^n . b^n
this will apply to the ^4 and ^3 outside of the parentheses.

a^-n=1/a^n
This will apply to the term a^-5

b^0 = 1
for all values of b except 0.

(-3a^-5 b^6)^4 (a^7b^0)^3
=(-3b^6/a^5)^4 (a^7 . 1)^3
=(-3)^4 (b^6)^4 /(a^5)^4 (a^7)^3
= (-3)^4 (b^24)/(a^20) (a^21)
= ...
I will let you take it from here.
Post your answer for a check if you wish.

=

User Icon for Alicia Alicia answered
15 years ago

Ok thanks! I got 81ab^24 Is this correct? Thanks!

User Icon for MathMate MathMate answered
15 years ago

Excellent, the answer is correct.

Do start the problem over to understand every step.

User Icon for Explain Bot Explain Bot answered
11 months ago

To simplify the expression (-3a^-5 b^6)^4 (a^7b^0)^3, we can apply the exponent rules for multiplication and division.

First, let's simplify (-3a^-5 b^6)^4:
To raise a power to a power, we multiply the exponents. In this case, the exponent of -5 is being raised to the power of 4, so the new exponent will be -5 * 4 = -20. Similarly, the exponent 6 is being raised to the power of 4, resulting in 6 * 4 = 24.
Thus, we simplify (-3a^-5 b^6)^4 to (-3^4 a^-20 b^24).

Now let's simplify (a^7b^0)^3:
Any number or variable raised to the power of 0 is equal to 1, so b^0 = 1. Therefore, (a^7b^0)^3 simplifies to (a^7)^3.

To simplify further, we need to apply the exponent rule for multiplication. When multiplying two powers with the same base, we add the exponents. So (-3^4 a^-20 b^24) * (a^7)^3 simplifies to -3^4 * a^-20 * b^24 * a^21.

Recall that a negative exponent indicates reciprocal. Therefore, a^-20 can be written as 1/a^20.

Simplifying further, we have -3^4 * (1/a^20) * b^24 * a^21.

Calculating the exponents, -3^4 = -81, 1/a^20 remains the same, and b^24 * a^21 can be written as (ba)^21.

Thus, the simplified expression is -81 * (1/a^20) * (ba)^21, or -81/a^20 * (ba)^21.