- #1
PistolSlap
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I have this problem to simplify with positive exponents:
\[\left[(-4a^{-4}b^{-5})^{-3}\right]^4\]
So, working with the interior brackets, I applied -3 to the equation, which resulted in:
\[-(-64)x^{12}b^{15}\]
**because "-4" was not in brackets, the exponent was applied to the 4 only, independent of the negative sign, which resulted in -(-64), so:
\[\left[ 64x^{12}b^{15}\right]^4\]
which resulted in this insane answer:
\[16777216x^{48}b^{60}\]
However, when I checked it, an online calculator said the answer was:
\[\frac{a^{48}b^{60}}{16777216}\]
which means that when applying exponents to the number I did something wrong, as it should have ended up negative, which would have resulted in it becoming a positive denominator.
What did I do wrong to end up with the wrong sign on that number?
\[\left[(-4a^{-4}b^{-5})^{-3}\right]^4\]
So, working with the interior brackets, I applied -3 to the equation, which resulted in:
\[-(-64)x^{12}b^{15}\]
**because "-4" was not in brackets, the exponent was applied to the 4 only, independent of the negative sign, which resulted in -(-64), so:
\[\left[ 64x^{12}b^{15}\right]^4\]
which resulted in this insane answer:
\[16777216x^{48}b^{60}\]
However, when I checked it, an online calculator said the answer was:
\[\frac{a^{48}b^{60}}{16777216}\]
which means that when applying exponents to the number I did something wrong, as it should have ended up negative, which would have resulted in it becoming a positive denominator.
What did I do wrong to end up with the wrong sign on that number?
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