How do you simplify (2x^-3y)/( 10y^-2)?

1 Answer
Sheffy
May 6, 2016

y^3/(5x^3)

Explanation:

We know that x^-n=1/x^n

Applying this property to the variables:

Method 1:

(2xx(1/x^3)xxy)/(2xx5xx(1/y^2))

=y/[(5xxx^3)xx1/y^2]

=y^3/(5x^3)

Method 2:

We can write all the variables in the numerator as

[2xxx^-3 xx y xxy^-(-2)]/10

=[x^-3 xx y xxy^2]/5 color(red)("cancelling 2")

=[x^-3 xx y^3]/5

=y^3/(5x^3)

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