Laws of Exponents
There are only four major laws of exponents that determine all
that we do with exponents and exponential functions. Assume a and
b are positive real numbers, while x and y are any real numbers
(possibly negative or irrational)
Notice the second law implies  , so we
can think of a negative in an exponent as “sending that
piece to the denominator”. These rules can also be combined
to form more complicated statements. Here are some examples:
We will need to be able to cancel complicated exponential
expressions quickly and accurately (especially for infinite
series).
We also need to be able to reorganize exponential functions so
that the role of the variable is clear.
|
