Exponent laws, step by step

Multiply two powers and the exponents add; raise a power to a power and they multiply.

The question

On Priya's paper: x³ · x³ ÷ x⁴ = x⁴. Which line should replace it?

On Priya's paper: x³ · x³ ÷ x⁴ = x⁴. Which line should replace it?

x³ · x³ ÷ x⁴
x³ · x³ ÷ x⁴=x^(3 + 3 − 4)
x³ · x³ ÷ x⁴=x^(3 + 3 − 4)
x³ · x³ ÷ x⁴=
x³ · x³ ÷ x⁴=
they wrote:x⁴
  1. Do not check by reading their line. Somebody else's working is the most persuasive thing on the page, and rereading it is how you end up agreeing with it — do the step yourself first, then compare.
  2. On your own, and writing the step nobody writes down: x³ · x³ ÷ x⁴ becomes x^(3 + 3 − 4).
  3. Tidy that up and it is x².
  4. Now compare. They wrote x⁴, and the second power was taken away and the third one added — so the correct answer is x².

How it works.

  1. 01

    Do not check by reading their line. Somebody else's working is the most persuasive thing on the page, and rereading it is how you end up agreeing with it — do the step yourself first, then compare.

  2. 02

    On your own, and writing the step nobody writes down: x³ · x³ ÷ x⁴ becomes x^(3 + 3 − 4).

  3. 03

    Tidy that up and it is x².

  4. 04

    Now compare. They wrote x⁴, and the second power was taken away and the third one added — so the correct answer is x².