Objectives The student will be able to:

1
ObjectivesThe student will be able to
1. divide monomials. 2. simplify negative
exponents. SOL A.10, A.11
Designed by Skip Tyler, Varina High School
2
Dividing Monomials
When dividing monomials, subtract the exponents.
1. 2.
b5-2
b3
m7-1n5-2

• m6 n3

3

• xy

9a3b6
4
Simplify

1. 48g2h2
2. 48g6h2
3. 4g6h2
4. 4g10h2

5
Heres a tricky one!
1m0n
n

• What happened to the m?

They canceled out! There are no ms left
over! This leads us to our next rule
6
Zero Exponents

• Anything to the 0 power is equal to 1.
• a0 1
• True or False? Anything divided by itself equals
  one.
• True!
• See for yourself!

7
Negative Exponents

• A negative exponent means you move the base to
  the other side of the fraction and make the
  exponent positive.

Notice that the base with the negative exponent
moved and became positive!
8
Simplify.

1. x-4 y0You can not have negative or zero
   exponents in your answer.

9
Simplify

1. p2
2. p12
3. .
4. .

10
Simplify

1. q2
2. q13
3. .
4. .

11
Simplify

1. y2
2. y-2
3. .
4. .

12
Simplify.
You cant leave the negative exponent!
There is another way of doing this without
negative exponents. If you dont want to see it,
skip the next slide!!!
13
Simplify (alternate version).
Look and see (visualize) where you have the
larger exponent and leave the variable in that
location. Subtract the smaller exponent from the
larger one.
In this problem, r is larger in the numerator and
s is larger in the denominator.
Notice that you did not have to work with
negative exponents! This method is quicker!
14
Simplify.
Get rid of the negative exponent.
15
Simplify.
Get rid of the negative exponents.
16
Simplify.
Get rid of the parentheses.
Get rid of the negative exponents.
17
Simplify

1. .
2. .
3. .
4. .