Question

Which of the following represents a true statement?

Answer 1

Answer: Statement B in the lower left corner

When you raise an exponential expression to another exponent, you multiply the exponents. We have 8*5 = 40 as the final exponent. The rule is (x^y)^z = x^(y*z). The base stays the same.

Statement A is not true because we should be adding the exponents. The rule is x^y*x^z = x^(y+z). Note how the bases are all the same. We'll use this rule for statement C to show that it is also false.

A similar rule is (x^y)/(x^z) = x^(y-z). We subtract the exponents this time. This rule is used to show that statement D is false.