mathmoron: how do you multiply a base number to a negative exponent?
for example, -70 to the -12th power?
Whenever something is raised to a negative indice, you can first write the whole expression as a fraction and then anything with a negative indice gets swapped to the other side of the fraction line and the negative index get swapped to a positive one.
eg
1/(3
-5) becomes 3
+5/1 ==> 3
5 5x
-4==> 5x
-4 / 1 ==> 5 / (x
4)
You have to be careful with negative numbers.
for instance
2
6 = 64 and
(-2)
6 = 64 but
-2
6 = -1 * 2
6 = -64
This is something that causes great confusion. Even some calculators disagree upon the answer That is why you really HAVE to use brackets to make your meaning clear.
this is a page I wrote a while about giving some examples on how to deal with negative indices. Maybe you will find it useful.
140120 negative indices latex info.JPG
+118608 
