Maths question..

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Turismo2029

Hey, I got a test thingy for Uni to do but I'm stumped on some questions, really, really early on in it.

I don't want answers, just what these things mean.

How do I express 3(-2) as a fraction?
The (-2) actually isn't in brackets though, it's in little text slightly above the 3.
I don't know if that means to multiply it or not.

And, in something like this, what do I do..

1.13 x 10(1) + 9.1 x 10(-1) = ?

The numbers in brackets once again, are really little text numbers above the number, and not really in brackets.
What do I do? Do I multiply the number by the little number or what?

I've been outta school for like a year and have completely forgot all this, I used to be good at maths. Not sure what happened there. ._.
 
Its three raised to the negative second ._.

EDIT: Didn't notice there was more . . .

It's just exponents ._. I hope you know what exponents are. Also, the second question is just the order of operations.
 
I can look exponents up, what do you mean "raised 3 to the negative second"?

Like, how do I go about working that out as a fraction? What's the process?

And for the second question, do I need to like, multiply 10x1 in brackets
and 10x(-1) in brackets as I go along in it or what? :S
 
Three to the negative second is the inverse of three raised to the second; that is one nineth.

Ten to the first power is one instance of ten, which is ten. Ten to the negative first is the inverse of ten, which is one tenth.
 
Are you sure this is for Uni? And that you honestly don't know how to do powers? A number to the first will always be that number.

1.13 x 10(1) + 9.1 x 10(-1) = ?

1.13 x 10 + 9.1 x .1

11.3 + .91

12.21
 
I can, unfortunately. At my university there's dumbed-down versions of math courses for certain majors. My ex-girlfriend rather poetically expressed her disgust for the simplicity of the course material and the idiocy of the other students in her "Calculus for Business Majors" class.
 
Good at math and you forgot what what exponents are after a year..... Turismo2029 used Amnesia? That sounds kind of crazy to be honest.

An exponent (the little text slightly above) means you need to multiply one and the number that is to the left of the exponent however many times the exponent says. Exponents are to multiplication what multiplication is to addition, but different. n^1/3/4/etc. is read "n to the first/third/fourth/etc. power". Or if it is to the second or third power it can be read as "n squared" or "n cubed" respectively.

Right now whenever I type "n", I mean "any number". It can mean three, four, or any other number you like. However it is always the same number. (so n=n can mean 3=3 or 4=4 but not 3=4)

Note: The "^" symbol is used to signify that whatever comes after it is an exponent for the number before it. The only difference between using that symbol and using the tiny text is that the symbol is easier to type.

Example:

3^2 means 1x3x3 which equals 9
3^3 means 1x3x3x3 which equals 27
n^1 means 1xn which equals n
n^0 means 1 but it isn't multiplied by anything, so it is still 1 (not 0)

When an exponent is negative, you do the opposite thing. You DIVIDE one by that number however many times it says.

Note: The "/" symbol will be used as the symbol for division and for fractions from now on as THEY ARE THE SAME THING, but hopefully you already knew that.

3^-2 means 1/3/3 which equals 1/9 which equals 0.111111111...
3^-3 means 1/3/3/3 which equals 1/27 which equals 0.037037037...
3^-1 means 1/3 which equals 0.333333333.....
There's no such thing as negative zero (shocker)

This may look a little confusing. To make this simpler, 1/3/3 is the same thing as 1/3 x 1/3, and that's why it equals 1/9, assuming you know how to multiply fractions. The same thing goes for 1/3/3/3 equaling 1/3 x 1/3 x 1/3 which, again, equals 1/27.

Note: The "..." means that the number goes on forever. That happens a lot. Of course in this case the numbers repeat forever, but I don't know how to type the symbol for that. It is basically a line floating above the number that repeats. So 0.111... would actually be 0.1 with a bar over the one.

That's the end of the lesson on exponents I gave to my younger brother, who is in middle school, earlier this year. Hopefully it helps. Let me know if you see something that is similar to a division sign except with a smaller number or no number at all on the outside. ;D
 
OmegaDonut said:
I can, unfortunately. At my university there's dumbed-down versions of math courses for certain majors. My ex-girlfriend rather poetically expressed her disgust for the simplicity of the course material and the idiocy of the other students in her "Calculus for Business Majors" class.
Click to expand...

I know here that what the University does is administers a math exam to all incoming freshman when they're here during their orientation. It's just math from various levels and depending on how well you do determines what math course you get placed in for your freshman year. They also do something along the lines of if your math ACT score is a 32 or above or something like that you don't take the exam. I don't remember what the cutoff was I just know I didn't have to take the exam and was placed into Calculus I. The point of the story however is that my roommate obviously didn't fare too well because he was enrolled in the lowest math class here which you don't even get credit towards graduation (still lowers your GPA though) for taking but need to pass in order to take Algebra I (or maybe it's Geometry). My roommate's not stupid he's just never been all that great with math (and knowing him probably didn't take the placement exam too seriously) and it didn't hurt him much considering for his major all he needed was Algebra II anyway.

Point being that the above math may look like high school (lol or lower) stuff but some people haven't learned it yet for one reason or another and so universities still offer the sub Calc math courses.
 
Ill admit that I dont know much about math even though Im pretty good with numbers because I hated school and never paid attention but this seems like basic 9th-10th grade stuff. I think they might have taught this stuff in 8th grade but I honestly cant remember.
 
Turismo2029 said:
Hey, I got a test thingy for Uni to do but I'm stumped on some questions, really, really early on in it.

I don't want answers, just what these things mean.

How do I express 3(-2) as a fraction?
The (-2) actually isn't in brackets though, it's in little text slightly above the 3.
I don't know if that means to multiply it or not.

And, in something like this, what do I do..

1.13 x 10(1) + 9.1 x 10(-1) = ?

The numbers in brackets once again, are really little text numbers above the number, and not really in brackets.
What do I do? Do I multiply the number by the little number or what?

I've been outta school for like a year and have completely forgot all this, I used to be good at maths. Not sure what happened there. ._.
Click to expand...

3 raised to the -2 power? That's...

1/3^2

1/9


1.13 x 10^1 + 9.1 x 10^-1

1.13 x 10 + 9.1 x (1/10)

11.3 + 0.91

12.21
 
I learned exponents in 6th grade as well, so it's kinda weird that the OP is at uni and doesn't know this stuff. I guess the system changes from place to place.
 
wow, well... it looks like we solved the guy's problem with exponents and order of operations...

time to move on I think!
 
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