Writing Without Negatives

Simplified answers are usually written with positive exponents. So the last step of many problems is a rewrite: x^-4 becomes 1/x^4. The rewrite also works the other way. When you want a single line without a fraction, 1/x^2 can be written as x^-2.

Only the factor with the negative exponent moves. 5x^-2 is 5/x^2. The 5 has exponent 1, so it stays in the numerator. The exponent -2 belongs to the x alone, because an exponent applies only to the base it is attached to.

For nonzero a, the negative exponent rule is a^-n = 1/a^n. Use it in either direction, to remove a negative exponent or to write a fraction as a single power.