Question

Is it true that a number raised to a negative exponent is always negative?

Answer 1

HI!!

Answer 2

No..it moves the decimal place over.

Answer 3

do you know what \[2^{-3}\] is ?

Answer 4

@iGreen. moves the decimal place over???

Answer 5

i guess so if the base is ten

Answer 6

Sorry I mean it makes it a decimal..

Answer 7

@homocidalmuffin23 \[b^{-n}=\frac{1}{b^n}\] so NO not negative, means take the reciprocal

Answer 8

@iGreen. makes it a decimal??!

Answer 9

If the base is negative, I guess it'll be negative.

Answer 10

yikes

Answer 11

any number can be written as some kind of decimal
even \[\left(\frac{1}{2}\right)^{-3}=8\]

Answer 12

\(\color{blue}{\text{Originally Posted by}}\) @misty1212
i guess so if the base is ten
\(\color{blue}{\text{End of Quote}}\)

Err..I don't think that's true..

\(10^{-2} = 0.01\)

Answer 13

@iGreen. that was a response to your reply that it moves the decimal over

Answer 14

yes, it does if the base it ten

Answer 15

It does what..?

Answer 16

Oh, nevermind..

Answer 17

\(2^{-3} = 0.125\)

Not sure what you mean??

Answer 18

lord help us

Answer 19

Oh forget it..

Answer 20

any number can be written as some kind of decimal, repeating, or not repeating

Answer 21

you comment about a negative exponent moving the decimal place over makes no sense

Answer 22

Is it a Yea no or sometimes?

Answer 23

im pretty sure its a negative

Answer 24

it is NOT negative

Answer 25

\[(-2)^{-3}=-\frac{1}{8}\] is negative, but
\[2^{-3}=\frac{1}{8}\] is positive

Answer 26

the number is the factor so which is not negative, the exponent is negative so that makes the number negative

Answer 27

if the number and the exponent were negative then the number would be postive