EXPONENTS ARE NOT ON THE LEVEL, "Why?"

EXPONENTS ARE NOT ON THE LEVEL

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- page 2, "Why"

"The Results of A Battle"

This page was written to explain results that are sometimes unclear to students. Each involves computation with exponents and is presented with constant numbers in examples and with variable numbers in the proof of the truth of the statement.

Think of a close battle: multiplication against division. The rules of the battle are the Laws of Exponents. The results of the battle might be:

If multiplication wins, the number is raised to a positive power.
If it's a tie, the number is raised to the zero power and this equals ONE.
If division wins, the number is raised to a negative power.

"Important Specific Results of A Battle"

Here are important examples of the above "battle."

A number to the first power is that number.
Any number to the zero power other than zero is 1.
A number to the negative first power is the reciprocal of that number.

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