Question

what is half of 2^{40} ?

Answer 1

\[2^{40}\]

Answer 2

\[2^{39}\]

Answer 3

could you show me how you got that ?

Answer 4

sure.

Answer 5

lets do a simpler one. \[2^5=32\]
half of 32 is 16
\[2^4=16\]

Answer 6

ok

Answer 7

now for the "math"
half of \[2^{40}\] means \[\frac{2^{40}}{2}\]

Answer 8

when you divide you subtract the exponents, so you get \[2^{40-1}=2^{39}\]

Answer 9

sorry im a little lost, why did u subtract 1 ?

Answer 10

oh because the denominator was 2, and \[2=2^1\]

Answer 11

oh i see

Answer 12

and when you divide you subtract the exponents.
\[\frac{b^n}{b^m}=b^{n-m}\]

Answer 13

but forget about that for a second. power of two look like
2,4,8,16,32,64,128,...

Answer 14

multiply by 2 to get the next one. so if you divide by 2 you get the previous one.

Answer 15

alright then thank you :)!

Answer 16

o wow