Indices

Indices can be used to save time and effort when performing calculations. It tells us how many times to multiply a certain number. For example, we can rewrite 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 as 24

Powers and bases

In the above example, we call 2 the base and 4 the power or index. The base tells us what number will be multiplied while the power tells us how many times to multiply the base number. In the above example, we multiply the number 2 four times. Example 1: State the base and power for the number 718

Example 2: Write 275 in factor form

Example 3: Write 6 x a x a x a x a x 5 x t x t x t in index form

Example 4: Write 14p5q2 in factor form

Exercise 1: State the base and power for each of the following a) b) c) d) 47 38 p3 e7

Exercise 2: Write the following in index form a) b) c) d) 2x2x2x2x2x2 3x3x3 4xyxyxyxtxt 7x7x7x x x xyxyxyxy

Exercise 3: Write each of the following as a basic numeral a) b) c) d) 103 84 44 12000

Exercise 4: Write each of the following in factor form a) b) c) d) e) 3e6f2 4p4q 7t2p5 12q3r2t 12a2b4c3

Multiplication of Indices
If we are multiplying indices with the same base, we simply add their powers.

Here is how it works. If we wish to calculate 54 x 52 we can rewrite it as: (5 x 5) x (5 x 5 x 5 x 5) = 56. But if we added their powers together it would also equal to 6! Example 1: Simplify 73 x 76

Example 2: Simplify 54 x 5 x 53, giving your answer in index form

Example 3: Simplify 5e3 x 2e10

Example 4: Simplify 7m3 x 3n5 x 2m8 x n4

Division of Indices
When dividing indices of the same base, we simply subtract their powers:

Here is how it works. If we took a7 a4, meaning:

If we subtracted the two powers, ie 7 4 = 3! Example 1: Simplify after first writing in factor form

Example 2: Simplify 712 74

Example 3: Simplify

Example 4: Simplify

Zero Index
Any number raised to the power of zero is equal to 1 Example 1: Find the value of 260

Example 2: Find the value of (12a9b7c2)0

Example 3: Find the value of 12b2c0

Raising a power to another power

To raise a power to another power, we multiply the powers:

Here is how it works. If we are given (72)3, this can be rewritten as 72 x 72 x 72 = 72 + 2 + 2 = 76. If we multiplied their powers it also gives us 6! Example 1: Simplify (74)8

Example 2: Simplify (7b5)2 x (2b8)3

Example 3: Simplify (

)3

Negative Indices
Consider the following division: By using the Division Law If we calculated this by first writing out the factors we get:

From this conclusion we can say that 2-1 = This can be generalized:

Example 1: a) Write 4-2 in fractional form b) Write

using a negative index

Square Roots and Cube Roots

The symbol means square root. It means, find a number that multiplies by itself to give the number inside the square root symbol. It is the opposite of squaring (raising the power by 2). For this reason a square root is equivalent to a power of . The symbol means cube root. It means, find a number that multiplies by itself three times to give the number inside the cube root symbol. It is the opposite of cubing (raising the power by 3). For this reason a cube root is equivalent to a power of . In general, any root can be expressed as:

Example 1: Find

Example 2: Find

Example 3: Find

Scientific Notation
Sometimes we deal with numbers which are simply too long to write. To simplify this we can shorten the number using scientific notation. It involves taking a number between 1 and 10 and multiplying it by powers of 10. For example, if we take 250000000000 (250 billion), this can be rewritten as 2.5 x 10 11. The number 10 is raised to the power of 11 because there are 11 digits after the number 2. If we deal with decimals, we count the number of digits after the decimal point up until the first non-zero number and we multiply that non-zero number by 10 raised to the number of digits multiplied by 1