Question

How do you simplify `9^-5`?

Answer 1

`1/9^5 " or " 1/59049` which is less useful.

Explanation:

The biggest problem is the negative index.

This can be changed to `1/9^5`

`x^-1 = 1/x`

In my opinion this is the best form of the answer. We could simplify further to find the fraction `1/59049`

However, there is little to be gained from this form, in order to use this fraction in any calculation, the index form is far more usable.