Question

How do you divide `\frac { - 2b ^ { 3} } { - b ^ { 4} }`?

Answer 1

See a solution process below:

Explanation:

First, rewrite this expression as:

`(-2/-1)(b^3/b^4) => 2(b^3/b^4)`

We can now use this this rule of exponents to divide the `b` terms:

`x^color(red)(a)/x^color(blue)(b) = 1/x^(color(blue)(b)-color(red)(a))`

`2(b^color(red)(3)/b^color(blue)(4) => 2(1/b^(color(blue)(4)-color(red)(3))) => 2(1/b^1) = 2(1/b) => 2/b`