Properties of Exponents

Overview

Goal. Simplify and evaluate powers with the product, quotient, and power rules, and rewrite zero and negative exponents correctly.

Exponent (definition). In a power, the number that tells how many times the base is used as a factor.

Product, quotient, and power rules; zero and negative exponents.

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Goal. Use the three exponent rules — add, subtract, multiply — and handle zero and negative exponents as reciprocals.

The same-base condition. The add and subtract rules work only when the bases match.