How do you simplify #3^-1*5^-2#?

1 Answer
Jan 3, 2017

See full explanation of the simplification process below

Explanation:

To simplify this expression we first need to use one of the rules for exponents:

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

Using this rule we can rewrite this problem as:

#1/(3^(- -1)* 5^(- -2)) = 1/(3^1*5^2)#

We know #x^1 = x# so we can rewrite this as"

#1/(3 xx 5 xx 5) = 1/75#