First of all, any number to the 0 power is just one so replace theby . which amounts to just erasing it: Next we get rid of all negative exponents by this pair of rules: If any factor of the numerator has a negative exponent, then move it from the numerator to the denominator and change the sign of the exponent to positive: If any factor of the denominator has a negative exponent, then move it from the denominator to the numerator and change the sign of the exponent to positive: We move the from the numerator to the denominator and write it with a positive exponent in the denominator: Next we move the from the denominator to the numerator and write it with a positive exponent in the numerator: Finally we add the exponents of in the numerator and we end up with: Edwin