Question

PLEASE HELP!! 2. Helen and Stephen both simplify the exponential expression .

Helen:
Stephen:
Unfortunately, they both made an error. Identify where each person made his or her error and explain in words what he or she did wrong. Then, correctly simplify the expression.

Answer 1

We start with the expression:

exp( (4/3)*ln(2) - 1)

Here we can use that:

exp(ln(x)) = x.

and e^(a + b) = e^a*e^b.

the first step here is:

e^((4/3)*ln(2) - 1) = e^((4/3)*ln(2)*e^(-1)

So the first step of Stephen is correct, but the first step of helen is not, you can not simplify the expression in that way.

now, we have that:

a*ln(x) = ln(x^a)

then we can write:

(4/3)*ln(2) = ln(2^(4/3))

and e^(ln(2^(4/3)) = 2^(4/3)

then we have:

e^((4/3)*ln(2)*e^(-1) = 2^(4/3)/e

now we can write this as:

∛(2^4)/e

here is where stephen makes the mistake, he uses the 4 in the rooth and the 3 in the power.

so the expression actually is:

∛(16)/e