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See image. I've looked up just about every rule I can find and I can't figure out how I am supposed to arrive at that answer. Can someone explain to me what has been done step by step here?

3 Answers3

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This is the big one here

$x^{-a} = \frac {1}{x^a}$

As for the rest of it,

$0.5 = \frac 12$

$x^{1-0.5} = x^{-\frac 12}$

$0.5x^{0.5-1} = \frac 12 x^{-\frac 12} = \frac {1}{2x^\frac 12}$

The other big one we haven't talked about.

$x^\frac 1a = \sqrt [a]{x}$

$0.5x^{0.5-1} = \frac {1}{2\sqrt x}$

Doug M
  • 57,877
  • Oh, thanks! I realise what I've been doing wrong is taking the 0,5 with me underneath the fraction, as in 1/0,5x^0,5. I just couldn't for the life of me understand how that could turn into 1/2x^0,5, magically turning the 0,5 into 2. – Julian Nikolay Krogh-Fredrikse Dec 12 '18 at 00:13
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$$\frac12=0.5$$ $$0.5-1=-0.5$$ $$x^{-0.5}=\frac 1{x^{0.5}}$$ $\frac 12\cdot \frac 1{x^{0.5}}$ is the result you want.

Matt Samuel
  • 58,164
1

$$0.5=\frac12$$ $$0.5-1=-0.5$$ $$x^{-n}=\frac1{x^n}$$

That should be enough to figure it out