Exercise 5 Page 320

The expression - 5^4, or negative 5 to the fourth power, can be written as the product of four 5 terms with a negative sign in front. Note that the negative sign is applied after raising 5 to the fourth power. - 5^4 ⇔ - (5^4)Let's evaluate the expression. We add parentheses to better visualize all of the transitions.

- 5^4

AddPar

Add parentheses

- (5^4)

Rewrite

Rewrite 5^4 as 5* 5* 5* 5

- ( 5* 5* 5* 5)

Multiply

Multiply

- (625)

RemovePar

Remove parentheses

- 625

Using a calculator, we can either enter - 5^4 or - 5* 5* 5* 5, or -(5* 5* 5* 5). All of the expressions give us the same answer.