MATH 1241
R.6 Exponents & R.7 Radicals
If a is any real number and m is a positive integer, then the m th power of a is
a m a a a ... a (m factors)
If a 0 is any real number, then
1
a0 1 and am (0 and negative exponents)
am
Example1. Evaluate
4
0 2 2
(a) 3 (b) 4 (c)
3
Laws of Exponents:
Let a and b be any real numbers, and n and m be any integers.
am
m
1. a a a n mn
2. n a m n 3. (a m ) n a mn
a
m
m m m a am
4. (ab) a b 5. m
b b
Example2. Simplify each of the following expressions and eliminate any
negative exponent(s):
a 2 b 7 ( x 2 y ) 7 ( x 2 y ) 5 x 2 y 2
(a) 8 4 (b) (c) 1 1
ab (x 4 y 5 )3 x y
Rational Exponents
1
n n
If n is any positive integer, then the n th root of a is a a
1
Note: If n is even, we must have a 0 .
m
For any rational exponents, a ( a1 / n ) mn
The above Laws of Exponents hold for any rational exponents.
Example3: Calculate: 27 5 / 3
Example4: Simplify each of the following expressions and eliminate any
negative exponent(s):
x1 / 3 x5 / 3 1/ 4 3/ 4 1/ 4 a 2 / 3b1 / 2
(a) (b) a ( a 8a ) (c)
x3 a 4 / 3b 3 / 2
Rational Exponents
1
n n
If n is any positive integer, then the n root of a is th
a a
Note: If n is even, we must have a 0 .
m
For any rational exponents, a ( a1 / n ) mn
n n
The symbol is a radical sign. When n 2 , we use instead of .
Let’s see examples:
Example5. Radical Calculations
(a) 27 (b) 121x 3 (c) x
7 28
x
y 21 3 30
y 24
2
Rationalizing Denominators/Numerator
Example6. Rationalize each denominator and simplify the result:
3 1
(a) (b)
a 1 a
Example7. Rationalize each numerator and simplify the result.
x 2 ah a
(a) (b)
x4 h
HW: (R-6) #1 – 21 (odd), 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 31, 33, 35, 41, 45, 47, 49
HW: (R-7) #31, 33, 35, 37, 41, 42, 43, 44