MCR3U Introduction to Rational Exponents

So, over the last few days, we have a lot of time to talk about compound interest and exponential
growth. Thinking back to all of what we have discussed/experienced, I want you to think about
the following question:

“If it takes 1 day for $1.00 to increase to $9.00, does this mean that it will take half of a day to
reach $5.00? [since 5 is in the middle of 1 and 9] ”. Most people would say “Yes”, but in fact,
those same people are the ones who don’t understand the idea of exponential growth. Hopefully,
you do and answered “No”.

So, in particular, what will the $1.00 be worth after half of a day? Let us investigate below:

On Day 0 (today), the amount is 1 = 90

After 1 day, the amount is 9 * 1 = 9 = 91
After 2 days, the amount would be 9 * 9 = 81 = 92
After 3 days, the amount would be 9 * 81 = 9 * 9 * 9 = 93

In fact, after n days, the amount would be 9 * 9 … * 9 = 9n

So it seems to reason that after ½ = 0.5 of a day, the amount would be 90.5. We can use a
calculator to work this out. Notice the use of brackets when using ½ rather than 0.5 for the
exponent:

Using this result, we can start to look for a pattern:

90 1
90.5 3
91 9
91.5 27
92 81

Since we know that the square root of 9 is also 3, we can conclude the following:

90.5 = 3 (from the chart above)

= sqrt (9) (since 32 = 9)
So 90.5 = sqrt (9)
How about the value of 91.5? Is there a way to determine its value without using a calculator?

Recall the following exponent law from Grade 9: (xm)n = xmn That is, the power of a power is
equivalent to the base (x) raised to the product of the exponents (mn). For example, ...

(x2)3 = x2(3) = x6 and (23)2 = 23(2) = 26 = 64

Using this idea in reverse, we can determine the value of 91.5 without using a calculator …

91.5 = 93/2 {write the exponent 1.5 as a rational number (fraction)}

91.5 = (91/2)3 {3/2 can be written as the product of ½ and 3}
91.5 = (3)3 {91/2 = sqrt (9) = 3 from our work above}
91.5 = 27 {33 = 3 * 3 * 3 = 27}

In fact, this strategy can be used to evaluate rational exponents each and every time. For
example, consider the next example that is very similar to the one that we just completed!

493.5 = 497/2 {write the exponent 3.5 as a rational number (fraction)}

493.5 = (491/2)7 {7/2 can be written as the product of ½ and 7}
493.5 = (7)3 {491/2 = sqrt (49) = 7 from our work above}
91.5 = 343 {73 = 7 * 7 * 7 = 343}

So you might be thinking (and hopefully you have been doing this all along :>), if 271/2 =
sqrt(27), what does 271/3 equal?

Well, 271/3 is equal to the third root of 27, that is, 271/3 = 3
27 .

Notice that it is understood that absence of a small number in front of the root sign implies the
second root of that number. In fact, it is mathematically correct to write 161/2 = 2 16 but
unnecessary. This would be similar to writing 1x1 instead of just x.

So, what exactly is the value of 3 27 or 271/3? It would make sense that since 33 = 27 then the
third root of 27 is 3. That is, 3 27 = 3 = 271/3 We can verify this on the calculator:

Note: The character can be found under the Math Menu on the TI
graphing calculators.

How about 161/4?

Well, it seems reasonable to expect that 161/4 = 4 16 , and since 24 = 16, 161/4 must be equal to 2!
A quick check on the calculator will confirm this result.

Finally, how about evaluating something like 642/3?

642/3
= (641/3)2 {since 2/3 = 1/3 * 2)
= ( 64 )
3 2
{since 641/3 = 3 64 }
= (4)2 {since 43 = 64}
= 16 {since 42 = 4 * 4 = 16}

We can confirm with the calculator in two ways:

Now, we have a way to evaluate any power with a rational (fraction) exponent. Yeah – but how
about that original question. That is, how much will we have after ½ of a day? Well, it actually
works out that we would only have $3.00 since 90.5 = 3 not 4.5. So please, don’t be like many of
my students and think that 91/2 means ½ of 9 and 91/3 means 1/3 of 9 because this is just simply
wrong!

Here are a few questions to work on for practice. We will take these up tomorrow. They are to
be done without the use of a calculator.
Question 1:

Question 2: