1# Objectives The student will be able to: 1. divide monomials. 2. simplify negative exponents. Designed by Skip Tyler, Varina High School Dividing Monomials When dividing monomials, subtract the exponents. 5 b bbbbb 5-2 3 1. 2 =b =b b bb 7 5 m n 6 3 7-1 5-2 2. n =m n 2 = m mn 3 7 xy 3. 2 6 xy 3 7 x y 3 2 7 6 = xy x y 2 6 x y 8 3 81a b 4. 5 9a b 8 3 81a b 8-5 3-1 3 2 9a b = 9a b 5 9a b 2 7 64g h Simplify 5 16gh 1. 2. 3. 4. 48g2h2 48gh2 4g2h2 4gh2 Here’s a tricky one! 3 3 3m n 5. 3 2 3m n = 0 1m n =n What happened to the m? 3 3 3m n 3m m m n n n 3 2 3m n 3m m m n n 3 They canceled out! m 1 3 m There are no m’s left over! This leads us to our next rule… Zero Exponents Anything to the 0 power is equal to 1. a0 = 1 True or False? Anything divided by itself equals one. True! See for yourself! 3 1 3 x 1 x m3 1 3 m 3 1 x 1 m 1 0 0 0 Simplify (denominator LARGER). 4 2 3r s 7. 3 4 18r s Look and see (visualize) where you have the larger exponent and leave the variable in that location. Subtract the smaller exponent from the larger one. r is larger in the numerator and s is larger in the denominator. 4 2 4-3 r 3r s 1r 2 3 4 4-2 6s 18r s 6s application • coolmath.com • purplemath.com