大象传媒

Fractional indices - Higher

An example of a fractional index is \(g^{\frac{1}{3}}\). The of the fraction is the of the number or letter, and the of the fraction is the power to raise the answer to.

\(a^{\frac{1}{2}} = \sqrt{a}\), \(a^{\frac{1}{3}} = \sqrt[3]{a}\) and so on.

By using index laws for multiplication from earlier it is clear to see that:

\(g^{\frac{1}{2}} \times g^{\frac{1}{2}} = g^1\)

Therefore: \(g^{\frac{1}{2}} = \sqrt{g}\)

\(a^{\frac{m}{n}} = (\sqrt[n]{a})^m\)

Question

  1. Simplify \(t^{\frac{3}{2}}\).
  2. Simplify \(8^{\frac{2}{3}}\).