Zero and Negative Exponents

Raising a Number to the Zero Power Anything raised to the zero power is 1, except 0 to the zero power. 0 to the zero power is undefined. I’ll explain why later.

Negative Exponents A negative exponent is telling you to find the reciprocal of that number, then raise it to the power indicated. For example, 5-2 is telling you to flip 5 2 ( ), then square the 5( ). In the case of variables, you can just move it from top (numerator) to bottom (denominator) or vice versa. For example, would change to

Examples 1. 50 2. -30 3. (-6) 0 4. 3-2 5. 1. 1 2. -1 3. 1 4. 1/9 5. 9/4 6. 5 5 • 100

More Examples 5ac-5 ¼ 3/(7ab5c2d4) 6/(ac3) 5a/c5

Try these… 1. A square foot is 3–2 square yards. Simplify this expression. Simplify. 2. 2–6 3. (–7)–3 4. 60 1 5. –112 –121

Try these… Evaluate each expression for the given value(s) of the variables(s). 6. x–4 for x =10 7. for a = 6 and b = 3 Simplify the following. There should be no negative exponents. 8. 9.