How do you simplify #(15x^3y^-8)/(5x^2y^-4)#?

1 Answer
Oct 2, 2016

Before we do anything, we can divide 15 by 3 and take care of those numbers. We now have #(3x^3y^-8)/(x^2y^-4)#.

Next, we can use the rule that says #x^a/x^b=x^a−b#. To make this easier, let's forget about the number and separate the fraction we have into two fractions:

#x^3/x^2=x^(3-2)=x^1=x#
#y^-8/y^-4=y^(-8--4)=y^-4=1/y^4#

We can now combine the two fractions and our number together to get our answer, which is #(3x)/y^4#.