Since there are 26 students in Mr. Carson's class, and each kid gets 3 pencils, that means we will multiply 26 and 3, in which we get 78. Now, since boxes of pencils only contain a dozen, which is 12 pencils, we will divide 78 by twelve, in which we get 6.5 boxes. You can't buy half a box, so he will need 7 boxes, since having 6 boxes means that you don't have enough pencils.
Hope this helps!
Are you sure you've copied down the original problem exactly as given? i38 = 38i can't be simplified. Perhaps you meant i^38, which is a different matter.
Note that i^38 = i^32 * I^4 * I^2.
Note that i^0, i^4, i^8, etc., all equal 1. Therefore,
i^38 = (1)(1)i^2 = 1*(-1) = -1 (answer)
