How do you simplify #\frac { 5^ { - 5} } { 5^ { 8} }#?

1 Answer
Jan 30, 2017

See the entire simplification process below:

Explanation:

The first rule of exponents we will use is:

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

#5^color(red)(-5)/5^8 = 1/(5^color(red)(- -5) * 5^8) = 1/(5^5 * 5^8)#

The next rule of exponents to use is:

#x^color(red)(a) xx x^color(blue)(b) = x^(color(red)(a) +color(blue)(b))#

#1/(5^color(red)(5) * 5^color(blue)(8)) = 1/(5^(color(red)(5)+color(blue)(8))) = 1/5^13 = 1/(1,220,703,125)#