2010-09-13T16:56:41+00:00
^ symbol means exponent What is 2^3 ? It is 8. What is 2^2 ? It is 4. What is 2^1? It is 2. So, we can observe, that, as the exponent decreases from 3 -> 2 -> 1, each result is obtained by dividing by 2 - 8, 4 (8\2), 2 (4\2). So, what is 2^0? Divide 2\2. And, the answer is 1 !!. And, so what is 2^-1 ? Divide 1\2.!! I learned this at Khan Academy Another way of looking at negative exponents is,
A negative exponent means how many times to divide by the number.