Exponents Discovery

Sunday, October 13, 2013 5:52 PM

A. 1. In One Note, type a paragraph explaining what you have learned. Two things that I learned are 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. 2. What is a base? A base is the number that you will multiply by itself in accordance with the size of exponent. In the following equation, the base is 2. 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. In the equation above, the power or exponent is 4. 4. What does a base and power (exponent) tell you to do? A base and power tells you to multiple the base by itself in accordance with the size of the power or exponent. In the formula below, the base (2) is multiplied by itself 4 times (power =4). 5. What is a power a shortcut to? A power is a short cut notation that tells you to do repeated multiplication. In the formula above, you multiply the base (2) by by itself 4 times because the power is 4. 6. How could you use geometry to describe squaring or cubing a number? You can use geometry to describe squaring a number or cubing a number as shown in the following examples. If we take the formula
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number as shown in the following examples. If we take the formula then in geometry, we would draw a line 2 cm long. If we take the formula then in geometry, we say length (cm) x width (cm) = area (cm2) or centimeters squared and draw a square with sides of 2 cm. If we take the formula Then in geometry, we say length (cm) x width (cm) x depth (cm) = volume (cm3) or centimeters cubed and draw a cube with sides of 2 cm. 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 the base (2) by itself by the number of times defined by the exponent. As you increase the exponent, the result will become larger and larger. 2. Starting with the exponent of 4, as you decrease each exponent, what operation is happening to the base? As you decrease the exponent, the base (2) is being multiplied
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As you decrease the 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) and equals 1. When you get to a negative exponent, then you multiple by 1 over the base (1/base) or the reciprocal of the base by the number of times defined by the exponent and the result becomes smaller and smaller. 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. 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 over the base (1/base) fewer and fewer times. When you get to an exponent of zero, the base is divided by itself (2/2) and equals 1. When you get to a positive exponent, then you multiple the base by itself the number of times defined by the exponent. As the positive exponents get larger, the result gets larger. 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 the positive 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 (2/2). When you get to a negative exponent, then the base is multiplied by 1 over the base (1/2) by the number of times defined by the exponent. As the negative exponent becomes more negative, the result gets smaller. C.
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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. 7. What do you get when you multiply x^2 by x? When you multiply x^2 by x, you get x ^3. 8. What about x^2 by x^3? When you multiply x^2 by x^3, you get x^5. 9. What about x^4 by x^6? When you multiply x^4 by x^6, you get x^10. 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.
11. What about x^4 by x^2? When you multiply x^4 by x^2, you get x^6. 12. 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. 13. What about x^6 by x? 14. When you divide 6x by x, you get x*x*x*x*x*x/x=x^5. 15. Come up with a rule that explains what happens when you divide
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15. 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. 16. What do you get when you square x^3? If x =2, then x^3 = 8 and then we square this, we get 8^2=64 or 2^6. So when you square x^3, you multiple 2 times the power (3) or x^6. 17. What do you get when you square x^4? If x =2, then x^4 = 16 and then we square this, we get 16^2=256 or 2^ 8. So when you square x^4, you multiple 2 times the power (4) or x^ 8. 18. 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. 19. 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. 20. 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. 21. 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.

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