Exponents and Square Roots Explained
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ScribdTranslationsMATHEMATICS 4TH YEAR
Exponentiation of an Integer
What is a power?
A power is a multiplication of several equal factors. The factor that is repeated is called;
The number that indicates how many times the base is repeated is called exponent, and the result is power.
That is:
an= a · a · a · … · a
The base: "a", is the factor that repeats. The exponent: "n", indicates the number of times it repeats.
base.
The multiplication is done 'n' times, since the exponent is 'n'.
Examples:
a) 24= 2 · 2 · 2 · 2 = 16
b) 02= 0 · 0 = 0
c) 40= 1 (this is a special case, as we cannot multiply a number by itself 0 times, for
What any number raised to the power of zero will equal 1)
d) 35= 3 · 3 · 3 · 3 · 3 = 243
e) 19= 1 · 1 · 1 · 1 · 1 · 1 · 1 · 1 · 1 = 1
Let's see what happens when the base is a negative number. For example:
a) (-3)2= (-3) . (-3) = 9 (negative times negative equals positive)
-33(-3) * (-3) * (-3) = -27 (negative times negative equals positive; but when multiplying that again
positive by another negative, it remains negative)
c) (-2)8(-2) raised to the power of 8 equals 256
d) (-2)9= (-2). (-2) . (-2) . (-2) . (-2) . (-2) . (-2) . (-2) . (-2) = -512
e) 28= 256
What relationship do you observe between the sign of the power and the exponent?
As you can see in the previous examples, all the powers that result in a negative number, their
exponents are odd numbers, take another look at the examples b) and d). In contrast, if the exponents are
Even numbers, like in example a) and c), their results are always positive numbers.
Therefore, it can be generally said that:
If the base is negative and the exponent is even or zero, the value of the power will be positive.
But if the base is negative and the exponent is odd, the value of the power will be negative.
Now observe these two powers:
-28-256
-28= (-2) · (-2) · (-2) · (-2) · (-2) · (-2) · (-2) · (-2) = 256
As you can see -28is not equal to (-2)8It is very important to pay attention to the parentheses, as
they will tell you what is included in the power and what is not. If you look again at case A), you will be able to
see that the power is applied only to the number 2 and not to the negative sign, therefore the negative sign
multiply 1 only once, and the number 2 eight times.
Properties of exponentiation
1. Multiplication of powers with the same base
Powers with the same base are multiplied, that is, the same number at the bottom. Examples:
23. 23. 23. 23= 23+3+3+3= 23.4= 212= 4096
32. 35. 31= 32+5+1= 38equals 6561
Note that the result of multiplying two or more powers of the same base is another power with the same base, and in
where the exponent is the sum of the initial exponents.
2. Quotient of powers with the same base
Let's see how to find the quotient of powers with the same base:
5854= 58 - 4= 54= 625
Notice that the result of dividing two powers of the same base is another power with the same base, and where
the exponent is the rest of the initial exponents.
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3. Power of a power
The result of calculating the power of a power is a power with the same base, and whose exponent is the
the product of the two exponents. For example:
3 5
) = 23.5= 215
4. Distributive with respect to multiplication and division
To multiply two numbers raised to the same power, you have two possible paths, whose result
it is the same:
You can first multiply the two numbers, and then calculate the result of the power:
(4·5)4= 204= 160000
Or you can raise each number separately to the exponent and then multiply the results.
(4·5)4= 4454= 256·625 = 160000
In a similar way, you can proceed if it is the quotient of two numbers raised to the same power.
(3 : 2)4= 1.54= 5.0625
(3 : 2)4= 3424= 81 : 16 = 5.0625
Notice that you get the same result from both methods. However, it will not always be as straightforward from both.
methods. So think in advance about which method will be more convenient for performing the calculation.
5. Non-distributive with respect to addition and subtraction
It cannot be distributed when there is addition or subtraction inside the parentheses:
For example:
(6 + 3)2not equal to 62+ 32 why (6 + 3)2= 92= 81
62+ 32= 36 + 9 = 45
45 is not equal to 81
(10 - 6)2≠ 102- 62 because (10 - 6)2= 4216
102- 62= 100 - 36 = 64
64 is not equal to 16
Radicalization of an Integer
What is a root?
Taking the nth root is the operation that 'undoes' exponentiation. Therefore, the nth root of a
number "a" is any number "b" as long as it is fulfilled that b=a. So, 'n' is the order or index,
"a" is the radicand, "b" is an nth root.
√
Example: to find the square root of 9 ( It is necessary
√ to find what number raised to
square of 9. If we think of examples we saw in power 32=9. So . √
Note that the number '2' is not usually written in the index place of square roots.
root, it is a custom not to put the index to square roots.
Let’s see other examples:
a) √ , because 33= 3 . 3 . 3 = 27
b) √ , because 34= 3 . 3 . 3 . 3 = 81
c) √ , because 112= 11 . 11 = 121
Let's see what happens when the radicand is a negative number:
d) √ , because (-2)3= (-2) . (-2) . (-2) = -8
e) √ , because (-3)5(-3) . (-3) . (-3) . (-3) . (-3) = -243
f) √ One should look for a high number 'to the fourth' that results in -81, will there be any
number that meets that condition? If you remembered what you studied when working with powers, your
the answer should be negative, there is no integer that meets that condition.
In general: when the index is even and the radicand is a negative number, the result does not exist in the set.
of the integers. The symbol is placed
Properties of Radication
The root is actually another way to express a power: the root of a certain order of a number is
equivalent to raising that number to the inverse power. For this reason, the properties of exponentiation are
they also comply with the root. For these properties to hold, it is required that the radicand of
the roots be positive.
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Root of a product
The root of a product is equal to the product of the roots of the factors: √ √ √
Example:
√ √√ √√
The same result is reached in the following way:
√ √ √
2. Root of a quotient
√
The root of a fraction is equal to the quotient of the root of the numerator over the root of the denominator. √
√
Example:
√
√
√
Root of a root
To calculate the root of a root, the indices of the roots are multiplied and the radicand is kept.
√ √ √
Example:
√√ √ √
Some operations taking into account properties of powers and roots:
√ √ √
When I have a power inside a root, where the exponent of the power is equal to the index of the root.
power, then they simplify each other. I can also simplify root indices that are multiples of
the exponents. Let's see more examples:
It can also be solved this way:
a) √ √ √I express
√ the√square root of 2 as a root, since its solution is not
an integer.
b) √ √ √ √ √
c) √ √ √ √ √
Factorization of a number
How do I factor?
Factoring a number means breaking down an integer and writing it in the form of multiplication of
powers of prime numbers.
Example:
Factor 360:
360 = 23. 32. 5
The bases of the powers are the prime numbers 2, 3, and 5.
Factor 27:
27 = 33
Taking into account the following table of the decomposition of the number 2250
2250 = 5332. 2
The factorization of a number as a product of prime powers is unique (the order of the factors does not matter).
importa).
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Take out or Extract Common Factor
What is factoring out a common factor?
Extracting the common factor from a sum (or difference) consists of writing it as a product, extracting a
number or expression that repeats in all the terms. Extracting the common factor allows us to simplify the
expressions. For example:
a) 3 . 3 + 2 . 3–8 . 3 = 3 . (3+2-8) = 3 . (-3) = -9; in this case, the common factor was 3, to which it
number that was repeated in all the expressions.
b) √ √ √ in(this case the
) √ common
√ factor was √
What we do is apply the distributive property of multiplication over addition. Never forget the
Parenthesis because the common factor must multiply all the addends or subtrahends.
Sometimes we factor out the common factor, even though the factor we extract is not explicitly written in.
all the addends. For example:
a) √ √ √
√ √ √
√ √ √ √ √
√ √ √
√ √ √
( √ )
√
In this case, the common factor was √, but it wasn't visible at first. We had to work on the
numbers inside the roots to find the common factor.
