Using the Exponent laws - Multiplying powers

by Visitor
(Canada)

Question
I am having difficulties understanding how to simplify exponents. How do we simplify (2a)2(a3) ?
Answer
There seems too be a lot of brackets here. Let's rewrite this expression so that it is easier to comprehend:
(2a)2 × a3
From the above, seems that we need to simplify (2a)2 first. Here's how we can do so:
Using the law (ab)n = anbn  we have:
(2a)2 = 22a2= 4a2
Hence, the equation becomes:

using the exponent law

Next, we can simplify this expression further using the law,
an × am= an + m as shown below:

using the exponent law

We can no longer able to simplify this further. So, the answer is 4a5.

You can learn more about the laws of exponents in these math lessons:
  1. Exponent laws - Part 1

  2. Exponent laws - Part 2





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