Question: One hundred twenty times a number x raised to the fifth power times another number y raised to the sixth power is divided by the quantity of eighty times the number y to the fourth power times another number z raised to the third power. What is this expression in simplest form?
Answer:
3x^5y^2
2z^3
First, we have to translate the word expression into the number expression.
120x^5y^6 or 120 * x^5 * y^6
80y^4z^3 80 * z^3 * y^4
Simplify each of the like terms:
- Both 120 and 80 can be divided by 40 to reduce down to 3/2.
- There is a y on the top and the bottom of the fraction. Recall that when dividing the same number raised to exponents, we subtract the exponents.
2 * z^3 2z^3
There is nothing else we can simplify, so that is the simplest form of the expression.
