How do you simplify #(c^7d^3)/(c^3d^5)#?

1 Answer
Dec 23, 2016

#c^4d^-2# or #c^4/d^2#

Explanation:

To simplify this there are two rules of exponents we can use:

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

and

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

So we can simplify this expression in one of two ways:

First simplification:

#(c^7d^3)/(c^3d^5) -> c^(7-3)d^(3-5) -> c^4d^-2#

Second simplification:

#(c^7d^3)/(c^3d^5) -> c^(7-3)/d^(5-3) -> c^4/d^2#