I need a maths genius!!!!!

[Dollygirl2008]

Hi
My daughter has been off sick and is struggling with the following:

"Simplify 2 (to the power of 5) x 2 (to the power of 3) divided by 2 (to the power of 6)"

What the hell?????????

So 2 to the power of 5 is:

2 x 2x 2x 2x 2 = 32

2 to power of 3 is

2 x2 x2 = 8

And so on

You can add the powers if multiplying and subtract them when dividing. So answer is 2(to the power of 5+3-6=2) or just 4

my maths genius hubby says the answer is 4

You're just multiplying twos.

(Five twos multiplied together) * (three twos multiplied together) / (six twos multiplied together)

If you write that out, you should see that there will be two twos left. So the answer is 2 to the power 2.

to multiply powers, simply add them together: so 5+3.
To divide powers subtract. so 8-6

IIRC: when multiplying powers with the same base you add the powers and when dividing you subtract.

So 2 to the power of 5 x 2 to the power of 3 becomes 2 to the power of 8, this is divided by 2 to the power of 6 to become 2 to the power of 2 (2 squared) which is 4.

www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zpkmpbk/revision/1

She needs to know the rules of indices. The above should help

I’m very simple terms, as long as the base number is the same you just add the indices together if it’s multiplied, and subtract if didivded. So Y3 X y5 = y^8

So it’s (5 + 3) - 6 making it 2^2

Pages 1, 2 & 3 here: www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zpkmpbk/revision/1

"Simplify 2 (to the power of 5) x 2 (to the power of 3) divided by 2 (to the power of 6)"

The power means how many times the 2 is multiplied by itself. This means that for multiplication of powers of the same number (2 in this case) you can add the indices, division you subtract. So it's 2 to the power (5+3-6) = 2 to the power 2 = 4

You can write it out longhand and cancel out top and bottom if she needs convincing
((2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2) x (2 x 2 x 2)) / (2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2)

It's indices. When multiplying she needs to add the powers when the multiple is the same. Simplify means they don't want the answer, they want a neater version- ie 9/16 simplifies to ¾.

Bbc bitesize will walk her through the methods and logic. Honestly, she needs to do that, is just giving her the answer won't help her in her exam!

32x8 /64=4

Thanks all. I'm going to get my head around all of this and then explain it to her - that's for the bitebsize as well!