Simplify the following, giving your answer with a positive exponent

Question

16x^5/4x^-4

Answer 1

To simplify the expression, we can apply the rules of exponents:

16x^5 / 4x^(-4) = 16/4 * x^5 * x^4 (since dividing by x^(-4) is equivalent to multiplying by x^4)

= 4 * x^(5+4) (since multiplying same base numbers, we add the exponents)

= 4 * x^9

Thus, the simplified expression is 4x^9 with a positive exponent.