Question

siplify 12w
----
4w^4

Answer 1

divide both by 4

Answer 2

so 3w over w^4

Answer 3

right, now divide by w

Answer 4

how the heck do you divid by w?

Answer 5

Assuming\[12\times w \div (4\times w ^{4}) =3\div w ^{3}\]
or in another way
\[3\times w ^{-3}\]

Cheers

Answer 6

w is just representing a number, so, because w is on both levels, you can divide by it. so you have this right now,\[3w/w ^{4}\] which is just \[3\times w/w \times w \times w \times w\]
You can cancel (AKA divide) the w.

Answer 7

So can you tell me what you'd end up with?

Answer 8

3 over w^3

Answer 9

bingo

Answer 10

So do you understand how we got that answer?

Answer 11

nope..

Answer 12

lol okay, do you have a specific question?

Answer 13

or is it just the concept in general?

Answer 14

nope i just dont get any of it

Answer 15

alright, well when you simplify a fraction, you can factor them. All factoring is is breaking it down into little numbers, so your equation after it's been factored would be this....\[3\times4\times w/4 (w \times w \times w \times w)\]

Answer 16

Get that? So if you did all that math, you'd end up with your original equation.

Answer 17

The next step is to see what numbers (or letters) the upper and lower levels have in common. So the only numbers/letters that are in common are 4 and w.

Answer 18

Because they're in common (and they're both multiplied) you can cancel them. All canceling is is doing the OPPOSITE of whats being done. So, because they're being multiplied, We would DIVIDE to get ride of them.

Answer 19

thats the second step i took to get rid of 4.

Answer 20

AND also the third step I took to get rid of w.

Answer 21

So if we put a number in for w, just so you can see it with real numbers, We'd have this.
\[3\times 4\times2/4(2\times2\times2\times2)\]
remember that 2 is just a random number i picked to represent w. So now can you see better how we canceled w?