Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces (ALEKS) Basic Math Placement Practice Test

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How can you represent a negative exponent as a fraction?

  1. By multiplying by -1

  2. By converting it to a positive exponent in the denominator

  3. By adding to the numerator

  4. By squaring the base

The correct answer is: By converting it to a positive exponent in the denominator

A negative exponent indicates that the base should be taken as a reciprocal. In mathematical terms, if you have a base \( b \) raised to a negative exponent \( -n \), it can be expressed as \( \frac{1}{b^n} \). This means that to represent the negative exponent correctly as a fraction, you convert the negative exponent into a positive one by moving the base to the denominator of a fraction. This is why the correct approach is to convert the negative exponent to a positive exponent in the denominator. This transformation allows for the expression to be accurately represented in fractional form.

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