Question

Identifying Equivalent Expressions with Exponents
Which expressions are equivalent? Check all that apply.
39
34
–92
99
811

Answer 1

3^4 and (−9)^2 are equivalent.

Reason: 3^4 = 81 and (−9)^2 = (−9)(−9) = 81. The others are different: 3^9 = 19,683; 9^9 and 8^11 are much larger. (If the option was written as −9^2 without parentheses, that means −(9^2) = −81, which would not be equivalent to 3^4.)