Exponents, Squares, Square Roots, Cubes, and Cube Roots

Exponents

Exponents represent repeated multiplication. The exponent will only effect the term it is directly touching.

For example;

-4⁴ = - ( 4 x 4 x 4 x 4)

notice it did not involve the (-)

(-3)⁵ = -3 x -3 x -3 x -3 x - 3

notice due to parentheses the (-) was included!!!

Zero Exponents

Any non-zero number or term raised to the zero power is 1.

(3x - 5 + 7x + 8)⁰

= (10x + 3)⁰

=1

Any non-zero number raised to the power of 0 will always result in 1.

Negative Exponents

Negative exponents means the reciprocal of the positive power.

If we want to write an expression with all positive powers, we can change their location from numerator to denominator and vice versa.

Squares and Square Roots

Cubes and Cube Roots