Everything to negative exponent is flipped.
1/2=0.5
0.5^-3=1/(0.5^3)
0.5^3=0.125
1/0.125=8
Similar to what other guest was saying.
2^(-1) = 1/2
2^(-2) = 1/(2^2) = 1/4
The same works for fractions with negative exponents.
1/(3^(-3))=3^(3) = 27
The important thing to recognize here is that when you have a number, or variable, to the power of a negative exponent you will take the reciprocal in order to drop the negative.
The reasons for this are not easy to describe by forum.
