5/22/2017 AlgebraIntegerExponents

IntegerExponents
Wewillstartoffthischapterbylookingatintegerexponents.Infact,wewillinitiallyassumethatthe
exponentsarepositiveaswell.Wewilllookatzeroandnegativeexponentsinabit.

Letsfirstrecallthedefinitionofexponentiationwithpositiveintegerexponents.Ifaisanynumberandnis
apositiveintegerthen,

So,forexample,


Weshouldalsousethisopportunitytoremindourselvesaboutparenthesisandconventionsthatwehavein
regardstoexponentiationandparenthesis.Thiswillbeparticularlyimportantwhendealingwithnegative
numbers.Considerthefollowingtwocases.

Thesewillhavedifferentvaluesonceweevaluatethem.Whenperformingexponentiationrememberthatit
isonlythequantitythatisimmediatelytotheleftoftheexponentthatgetsthepower.

Inthefirstcasethereisaparenthesisimmediatelytotheleftsothatmeansthateverythingintheparenthesis
getsthepower.So,inthiscaseweget,


Inthesecondcasehowever,the2isimmediatelytotheleftoftheexponentandsoitisonlythe2thatgets
thepower.TheminussignwillstayoutinfrontandwillNOTgetthepower.Inthiscasewehavethe
following,


Weputinsomeextraparenthesistohelpillustratethiscase.Ingeneraltheyarentincludedandwewould
writeinstead,


Thepointofthisdiscussionistomakesurethatyoupayattentiontoparenthesis.Theyareimportantand
ignoringparenthesisorputtinginasetofparenthesiswheretheydontbelongcancompletelychangethe
answertoaproblem.Becareful.Also,thiswarningaboutparenthesisisnotjustintendedforexponents.
Wewillneedtobecarefulwithparenthesisthroughoutthiscourse.

Now,letstakecareofzeroexponentsandnegativeintegerexponents.Inthecaseofzeroexponentswe
have,

Noticethatitisrequiredthatanotbezero.Thisisimportantsince isnotdefined.Hereisaquick
exampleofthisproperty.


Wehavethefollowingdefinitionfornegativeexponents.Ifaisanynonzeronumberandnisapositive
integer(yes,positive)then,


Canyouseewhywerequiredthatanotbezero?Rememberthatdivisionbyzeroisnotdefinedandifwe
hadallowedatobezerowewouldhavegottendivisionbyzero.Hereareacoupleofquickexamplesfor
thisdefinition,

http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/Classes/Alg/IntegerExponents.aspx 1/2
5/22/2017 AlgebraIntegerExponents

Herearesomeofthemainpropertiesofintegerexponents.Accompanyingeachpropertywillbeaquick
exampletoillustrateitsuse.Wewillbelookingatmorecomplicatedexamplesaftertheproperties.

http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/Classes/Alg/IntegerExponents.aspx 2/2