Question

Question #0b55e

Answer 1

`1," "a ne 0`

Explanation:

Recall the following rule of exponents:

`x^color(red)a * x^color(blue)b = x^(color(red)a + color(blue)b)`

In this case, we have:

`a^color(red)2 * a^color(blue)(-3) * a^color(orange)1 = a^(color(red)2 + color(blue)((-3)) + color(orange)1) = a^(2-3+1) = a^0 = 1`

This is true as long as `a ne 0`, since that would make the expression `0^0`, which is undefined.

Final Answer