Home > PC > Chapter 1 > Lesson 1.1.1 > Problem 1-8
REVIEW OF ZERO AND NEGATIVE EXPONENTS
Sarah was teaching her younger sister Tanya about exponents. Tanya thought that
Sarah told Tanya that the numbers in the right column double each time as you go up. Explain why they are double by writing
, and as products of ’s. On your own paper, copy the table and fill in the values for
and . What happens to the values in the right column as we go down from
? They are reduced by half.
In order to make the rules of exponents in base
work for all integer exponents, mathematicians define , , etc. by using the pattern you saw in part (c). Use this pattern to fill in the remaining values in the right column.