Question

These students were asked to simplify: 2⋅3−45−2

Adam wrote: 2⋅5234
Nick wrote: 522⋅34
Shane wrote: 2⋅3452

Adam is correct because the negative exponent moves the base to the other side of the fraction bar and makes the exponent positive.

Shane is correct because all that needs to be done is to make the negative exponents positive.

Nick is correct because the negative exponent in the numerator moves the whole numerator into the denominator and makes the exponent positive.

None of these are correct because the students did not add the exponents in the numerator and then subtract exponents since there is division.

Answer 1

[AI-generated answer — Bot GPT 3.5]

None of these answers are correct because none of the students followed the proper rules for simplifying exponents in this expression. The correct simplification of the expression is 2⋅3−45−2 = 2⋅(3−4)5−2 = 2⋅(3^1/4^5)−2 = 2⋅(1/4^5)−2 = 2⋅(1/1024)−2 = 2⋅1/(1/1024)^2 = 2⋅1024^2 = 2⋅1048576.