Algebra Examples

$\frac{x y^{- 4}}{x^{3} y^{- 1}}$

Step 1

Move $y^{- 4}$ to the denominator using the negative exponent rule $b^{- n} = \frac{1}{b^{n}}$ .

$\frac{x}{x^{3} y^{- 1} y^{4}}$

Step 2

Multiply $y^{- 1}$ by $y^{4}$ by adding the exponents.

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Step 2.1

Move $y^{4}$ .

$\frac{x}{x^{3} (y^{4} y^{- 1})}$

Step 2.2

Use the power rule $a^{m} a^{n} = a^{m + n}$ to combine exponents.

$\frac{x}{x^{3} y^{4 - 1}}$

Step 2.3

Subtract $1$ from $4$ .

$\frac{x}{x^{3} y^{3}}$

Step 3

Cancel the common factor of $x$ and $x^{3}$ .

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Step 3.1

Raise $x$ to the power of $1$ .

$\frac{x^{1}}{x^{3} y^{3}}$

Step 3.2

Factor $x$ out of $x^{1}$ .

$\frac{x \cdot 1}{x^{3} y^{3}}$

Step 3.3

Cancel the common factors.

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Step 3.3.1

Factor $x$ out of $x^{3} y^{3}$ .

$\frac{x \cdot 1}{x (x^{2} y^{3})}$

Step 3.3.2

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{x \cdot 1}{x (x^{2} y^{3})}$

Step 3.3.3

Rewrite the expression.

$\frac{1}{x^{2} y^{3}}$