Question

Simplify? (1/4b)^2

Answer 1

`1/(16b^2)`

Explanation:

The squared sign outside the parentheses indicates that you squaring everything inside the parentheses. I'll rewrite it a little so that it's easier to understand:

`(1/(4b))^2 rarr 1^2/(4^2b^2)`

Remember that `1 xx 1 = 1`, so the `1^2` equals itself. Basically, the top will stay the same. However `4^2 = 16`, so we can simplify that part:

`1^2/(4^2b^2) rarr 1/(16b^2)`

And since we don't know the value of `b`, `b^2` is the most simplified form that we can obtain, so the simplified expression is:

`1/(16b^2)`