University:
Montgomery College
Course:
MATH 030: Elements of Mathematics I Support
Academic year:

2024
Views:

143

Pages:

2
Author:

Raphael Burgess

Simplifying Algebraic Expressions with Exponents: How can we simplify algebraic expressions with exponents? That is, something like 8a b c 32a b c One approach* would be to break the problem into the following steps: 1. Break the expression into separate fractions, one containing only numbers, and one for each variable: 8a b c 32a b c b b 8 a 32 a c c = 2. Reduce the fraction containing only numbers: For each fraction containing a variable: 3. Move all terms in the numerator (denominator) with negative exponents to the denominator (numerator), and make the exponent positive. Leave a “1” if moving all the terms: a a4 1 b b c c 1 b b a a stays the same 4. Multiply all terms in the numerator, and all terms in the denominator: a a 1 a 1 a 1 1 b b 1 b 1 b *If you already have an approach that works for you, that’s great! Remember that there’s almost always more than one right way to approach a math problem. 4. Divide the numerator by the denominator: c c c 1 1 5. If the exponent is negative, then move the term and make it positive: c 1 1 4 1 c 6. Combine all the simplified fractions into one: And the result is: 1 b a 1 1 c a 4b c a 4b c 8a b c 32a b c Exercises: Simplify the following expressions: 1. 3 2. 5 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. ( ) 0 Answers: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 3 7. 8. 9. 10. 1

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