Exponents Discovery

Monday, October 07, 2013 10:07 AM

A. 1. In One Note, type a paragraph explaining what you have learned. Two things that I learned is that you need to pay attention to negative exponents and that a negative exponent means to divide. So you end up with a fraction or a decimal. I also noticed the cubing effect that an exponent can have.

2. What is a base? A base is the number that you will multiply by itself in accordance with the size of exponent. 3. What is a power? A power is the same as the exponent and it is the number that tells you how many times to multiply the base by itself. 4. What does a base and power (exponent) tell you to do? A base and power is the number that tells you how many times to multiply the base by itself. 5. What is a power a shortcut to? A power is a short cut notation that tells you to multiply a number by itself x times. 6. How could you use geometry to describe squaring or cubing a number? You can use geometry to describe squaring a number or cubing of a number. In geometry, we say length (cm) x width (cm) = area (cm2) or centimeters squared. In geometry, we say length
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area (cm2) or centimeters squared. In geometry, we say length (cm) x width (cm) x depth (cm) = volume (cm3) or centimeters cubed. B. Base 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 Exponent 4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 meaning 2*2*2*2 2*2*2 2*2 2 2/2 1/2 1/2*1/2 1/2*1/2*1/2 1/2*1/2*1/2*1/2 Value 16 8 4 2 1 1/2 1/4 1/8 1/16

1. Start with 2 to the first power. As you increase the exponent, what is operation happening to the base? As you increase the exponent, you multiply two by itself by the number of times defined by the exponent. 2. Starting with the exponent of 4, as you decrease each exponent, what operation is happening to the base? As you decrease each exponent, the base (2) is being multiplied by itself fewer and fewer times. When you get to an exponent of zero, the number is divided by itself (2). When you get to a negative exponent, then you multiple 1/2 by the number of times defined by the exponent. 3. Now, decrease the exponent from 1 to 0 and using the pattern you have discovered, determine the value of 2 to the 0 power and fill in the table.
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4. Continue with this pattern to fill out the rest of the table. Double check your table. Does the pattern work from 2^-4 to 2^4 as the exponent increases each time? Yes, the rule works for when you increase from 2^-4 to 2^4. As you increase each exponent starting at 2^-4 , you multiple the base by 1/2 fewer and fewer times. When you get to an exponent of zero, the number is divided by itself (2). When you get to a positive exponent, then you multiple the base by itself more times as defined by the exponent. 5. Does the pattern work from 2^4 to 2^-4 as the exponent decreases each time? Yes, the rule works for when you decrease from 2^4 to 2^-4. As you decrease each exponent, the base (2) is being multiplied by itself fewer and fewer times. When you get to an exponent of zero, the number is divided by itself (2). When you get to a negative exponent, then you multiple 1/2 by the number of times defined by the exponent. C. c 1. What do you get when you add x by x? When you add x by x, you get 2x. 2. What do you get when you subtract x by x? When you subtract x by x, you get 0. 3. What do you get when you multiply x by x? When you multiply x by x, you get x^2. 4. What do you get when you divide x by x? When you divide x by x, you get 1. 5. What do you get when you multiply x by x by x? When you multiply x by x by x, you get x^3. 6. What about x by x by x by x by x? When you multiply x by x by x by x by x, you get x^5.
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7. 8. 9. 10.

When you multiply x by x by x by x by x, you get x^5. What do you get when you multiply x^2 by x? When you multiply x^2 by x, you get x ^3. What about x^2 by x^3? When you multiply x^2 by x^3, you get x^5. What about x^4 by x^6? When you multiply x^4 by x^6, you get x^10. Come up with a rule that explains what happens when you multiply same bases. When you multiply a base by itself, you get the base raised to an exponent where the exponent is equal to the number of times that you multiply the base by itself. If you multiple a base raised to a power by the same base raised to another power, you get the base raised to the sum of the powers.

1. What about x^4 by x^2? When you multiply x^4 by x^2, you get x^6. 2. What do you get when you divide x^5 by x^3? When you divide x^5 by x^3, you get x*x*x*x*x/x*x*x=x^2. 3. What about x^6 by x? 4. When you divide 6x by x, you get x*x*x*x*x*x/x=x^5. 5. Come up with a rule that explains what happens when you divide same bases. When you divide same bases, the exponents cancel out and you get whatever is left. If you divide a base raised to a power by the same base raised to another power, you get the base raised to the difference of the powers. 1. What do you get when you square x^3? If x =2, then x^3 = 8 and 8^2=64 or 2^6. So when you square x^ 3, you multiple 2 times the power (3) or x^6. 2. What do you get when you square x^4? If x =2, then x^4 = 16 and 16^2=256 or 2^8. So when you square
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3.

4. 5. 6.

If x =2, then x^4 = 16 and 16^2=256 or 2^8. So when you square x^4, you multiple 2 times the power (4) or x^8. What do you get when you cube x^2? When you cube x^2 you get (x^2)^3. So you multiple 3 times the power (2) or x^6. What do you get when you raise x^3 to the fourth power? When you raise x^3 to the fourth power you get (x^3)^4 or x^12. What do you get when you raise x^2 to the fifth power? When you raise x^2 to the fifth power you get (x^2)^5 or x^10 Come up with a rule that explains what happens when you raise a base with an exponent by an exponent. If you raise a base raised to a power by a power, you multiple the powers.
When you raise a base with an exponent by an exponent you first have to do the base with the exponent then take that answer and put the second exponent on it.

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