Question

How do you express `(2a^-4)/(5b^-2)` with positive exponents?

Answer 1

`(2b^2)/(5a^4)`

Explanation:

We can use the following two rules for exponents to express the term with only positive exponents:

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

and

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

Applying this to the expression from the problem gives:

`(2a^color(red)(-4))/(5b^color(blue)(-2)) = (2b^color(blue)(- -2))/(5a^color(red)(- -4)) -> (2b^color(blue)(2))/(5a^color(red)(4))`