Remember: Anything except 0 raised to the zero
power is 1
Simplifying Exponential Expression Lab
Name: ______________________________ Date: __________________
Remember: Anything except 0 raised to the zero
power is 1
Examples:
1. Simplify: 
a.
b.
c.
d.
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2. Simplify: 
a. 
b.
c.
d.
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3. Simplify:
a.
b.
c.
d.
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4. Simplify:
a.
b.
c.
d.
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5. Simplify:
a.
b.
c.
d.
Answers to Simplifying Exponential Expressions Lab
1. Answer: B
To raise an exponential expression to a power, keep the base
and multiply the exponents.
To make the exponent positive, take the reciprocal of the
expression.
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2. Answer: C
Raise each term to the power of 6:
=
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3. Answer: D
=
Raise each term to the power of -3
and combine the c’s. One way is make them both positive by
taking the reciprocals of each c.
4. Answer: B
=
Combine the a’s, b’s, and c’s. One way to combine the c’s is to first make them positive by taking their reciprocals.
You can picture what is occurring if you expand the expression without the exponents.
=
Remember that 
or any term divided by the same term equals 1, so if you
simplify this expression using this fact.
=
because of the commutative property of multiplication.
There are other ways of doing this problem. For example, you can use your product, quotient, and power rules for exponents.
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5. Answer: C
=
Use the power rule for exponents to raise each term to -3, multiplying each exponent by
-3.
