Question

How do you simplify `1/4^-2`?

Answer 1

Express the denominator as a fraction such as `(1)/((1/4^(2)))`

Knowing that `4^2 = 16`, multiply the denominator and numerator by the reciprocal:

`(1)/((1/4^(2))) = ((1) * (16/1))/cancel(((1/16) * (16/1))) = 16`

Explanation:

The "trick" here is to express `4^(-2)` as a fraction of integers.