Date: ___ October 2017

Lesson: Exponents or Index Law Product to a Power

When raising a product to a power, distribute the power to each
Exponents are also called Powers or Indices factor.
b (𝒙𝒚)𝒂 = 𝒙𝒂 𝒚𝒂
x
x: base b: exponent Examples:
The exponent of a number says how many times to use the number in a 𝟏. (𝒎𝒏)𝟕 = 𝒎𝟕 𝒏𝟕 2. (𝟓𝒙)𝟒 = 𝟓𝟒 𝒙𝟒
multiplication.
Example: Quotient to a Power
92 = 9 x 9 = 81 When raising a fraction to a power, distribute the power to each factor
45 = 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 =1024 in the numerator and denominator of the fraction.
𝒙 𝒂 𝒙𝒂
( ) = 𝒂
Product with the same Base 𝒚 𝒚
When multiplying like bases, keep the base the same and add the
exponents. Examples:
(𝒙𝒂 ) (𝒙𝒃 ) = 𝒙𝒂+𝒃 𝟐 𝟑 𝟐𝟑 𝒖 𝟏𝟎 𝒖𝟏𝟎
𝟏. (𝒓) = 𝒓𝟑
2. (𝒗) = 𝒗𝟏𝟎
Examples:
1. (𝒂𝟓 ) (𝒂𝟖 ) = 𝒂𝟓+𝟖 = 𝒂𝟏𝟑
2. (𝟑𝟑 ) (𝟑𝟐 ) = 𝟑𝟑+𝟐 = 𝟑𝟓 Negative Power
When a base is raised to a negative power, reciprocate (find the
Quotient with the same Base reciprocal of) the base, keep the exponent with the original base, and drop the
When dividing like bases, keep the base the same and subtract the negative.
denominator exponent from the numerator exponent. 𝟏
𝒙𝒂 𝒙−𝒂 = 𝒂 𝒚
= 𝒙𝒂−𝒃 𝒙
𝒙𝒃
Examples: Examples:
𝒎𝟗 𝟗−𝟑 𝟔 𝟒𝟓 𝟓−𝟑 𝟐 𝟏 𝟏
1.
𝒎𝟑
= 𝒎 =𝒎 2.
𝟒𝟑
= 𝟒 =𝟒 𝟏. 𝒃−𝟕 = 𝒃𝟕 2. 𝟏𝟑−𝟑 = 𝟏𝟑𝟑

Power to a Power Zero Power

When raising a base with a power to another power, keep the base Anything raised to the zero power is one.
the same and multiply the exponents. 𝒙𝟎 = 𝟏
(𝒙𝒂 )𝒃 = 𝒙𝒂𝒃
Examples:
Examples: 𝟏. (𝒒)𝒐 = 𝟏 2. (𝟓𝟎𝟎)𝟎 = 𝟏
1. (𝒚𝟔 )𝟑 = 𝒚(𝟔)(𝟑) = 𝒚𝟏𝟖 𝟐 𝟒
2. (𝟓 ) = 𝟓 (𝟐)(𝟒) 𝟖
= 𝟓
Exercise:

Evaluate each of the following.

1) 28 =_______ 6) (23)3 =_______
2
2) 8 =_______ 7) (24)(23) =_______
3) 5-1 =_______ 8) (32)(23) =_______
-2 0 -1 2
4) 3 =_______ 9) x + 3 – 2 =_______
5) 180 =________ 10 [22 – 33 + 44]0 =_______

Simplify each of the following.

𝑑 14
1) (x10)(x12) =_______ 6) =_______
𝑑7
𝑚 9
2) (y-3)(y8) =_______ 7) 𝑚−2 =_______
𝑥 7 𝑥 10
3) (m15)3 =_______ 8) 3 5 =_______
𝑥 𝑥
𝑠 8 𝑡 2 𝑢𝑜
4) (d-3)2 =_______ 9) 𝑠4 𝑡 3 =_______
𝑧 23
5) (a-4)-4 =_______ 10) 𝑧15 =_______