Question 28887
I am trying to re-write the following expression using negative exponents:

x^2/y^2

The book gives the answer as:

y^-2/x^-2

How did they get this? All of the example problems about writing equivalent expressions using negative exponents have been limited to single literals, often with the answer containing a 1 in the numerator.

Thr rule is
(a)^m = 1/(a)^(-m)
and (x)^(-n) = 1/(x)^n

Therefore
x^2/y^2 = [(x)^2]X[1/y^2]
=[1/x^-2]X[y^-2]  (using the above)
=y^-2/x^-2