Question

When you multiply expressions with the same base, you ______ the exponents. Add multiply

Answer 1

Answer:

  ... you add the exponents

Step-by-step explanation:

An exponent is a way of showing repeated multiplication. For example, ...

  x^2 means x·x

and

  x^3 means x·x·x

If we multiply these two expressions together, we get ...

  (x^2)·(x^3) = (x·x)·(x·x·x) =  x·x·x·x·x

This is a product in which x appears as a factor 5 times, so we can write it using an exponent as ...

  x·x·x·x·x = x^5

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That is, when we multiply the expressions, we add the numbers of times the factor appears in the product:

  2 + 3 = 5

  x^2 · x^3 = x^(2+3) = x^5