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Deriving the Property of Negative Exponents Using 1an\frac{1}{a^{-n}}

The Property of Negative Exponents states that 1an=an\frac{1}{a^{-n}} = a^n. We can prove this by simplifying the complex fraction 1an\frac{1}{a^{-n}} using the basic definition of a negative exponent, an=1ana^{-n} = \frac{1}{a^n}. First, substitute this definition into the denominator, rewriting the expression as 11an\frac{1}{\frac{1}{a^n}}. To simplify this complex fraction, we rewrite the main division as multiplication by the reciprocal of the denominator. We multiply the numerator, 11, by the reciprocal of 1an\frac{1}{a^n}, which is an1\frac{a^n}{1}. This gives 1an11 \cdot \frac{a^n}{1}, which simplifies directly to ana^n. This derivation demonstrates that a fraction with a numerator of 11 and a denominator consisting of a base raised to a negative exponent simplifies to that base raised to the corresponding positive exponent.

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Updated 2026-04-29

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