Evaluating Exponents Worksheets

How Do You Evaluate Negative and Zero Exponents? Exponents are the power that is assigned to a number or a value that is written in super-script like this; 3⁴. Now there are different types of exponents that you will have to deal with, and these include positive, negative, and fractions. Many students freak out when they see a minus sign with an exponent. It might seem scary, but it really is not. Negative exponents are very simple to evaluate. When you see a negative exponent, you reciprocate the number. Don't understand it? Let's see an example here; Consider a number 2^(-5). Okay, so we have -5 in the exponent, what do we do? You simply reciprocate it like this; 1/2⁵ = 1/32. See this? It is that simple. now what if you have; 1 / 3^(-2). You reciprocate it; 3² / 1 = 9 It is THAT simple!