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Quotient to a Negative Exponent Property

The Quotient to a Negative Exponent Property states that raising a fraction to a negative power is equivalent to raising the reciprocal of that fraction to the corresponding positive power. If aa and bb are real numbers with a0a \neq 0 and b0b \neq 0, and nn is an integer, then:

(ab)n=(ba)n\left(\frac{a}{b}\right)^{-n} = \left(\frac{b}{a}\right)^n

In short: to simplify a fraction raised to a negative exponent, take the reciprocal of the fraction and change the sign of the exponent to positive.

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Updated 2026-06-18

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