Question

Simplify. Express with positive exponents. Rationalize denominators. a^-4/a^-2

Answer 1

exponent rule

\[\frac{ m^{a} }{ m^{b} } = m^{a-b}\]

in other words, when you divide two quantities of the same base with different exponents, keep the base, subtract the exponents

apply this logic to your problem. if you end up with a negative exponent, simply move the term to the opposite side of the fraction bar and change the sign (ex: x^(-2) becomes 1/x^2)