Alice and Aaron are working as a pair in math class. They decide to each answer the question asked and compare solutions. Their answers were as follows:

Question

Alice and Aaron are working as a pair in math class. They decide to each answer the question asked and compare solutions. Their answers were as follows:

Alice: 7^3 x 7^9 = 7^27
Aaron: 7^3 x 7^9 = 7^12
They are not sure why they got two different answers. Who has the correct solution and what did the person do that missed it that was incorrect?

Answer 1

Aaron has the correct solution. Alice made an error by adding the exponents when multiplying powers with the same base. The correct way to solve the problem is to add the exponents, not multiply them. Therefore, the correct solution is: 7^3 x 7^9 = 7^(3+9) = 7^12.