How do you simplify x^-4 (x^2 + x - 3)?

1 Answer
Jun 15, 2015

= color(blue)(x^-2 + x^-3 - 3.x^-4

Explanation:

x^-4 (x^2 + x - 3)

Here , we need to multiply color(red)(x^-4 with every term within the bracket.

color(red)(x^-4) .x^2 +color(red)( x^-4).x^1 -color(red)( x^-4).3

Note:
color(blue)(a^m . a^n = a^(m+n)
Applying the above mentioned property to the exponents of x

= x^(-4+2) + x^(-4+1) - (x^-4).3
= x^-2 + x^-3 - (x^-4).3
= color(blue)(x^-2 + x^-3 - 3.(x^-4)