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Negative Exponent


A negative exponent denotes the reciprocal of the corresponding positive power. For a nonzero number a and a positive integer n,

 a^(-n)=1/(a^n).

This definition extends the exponent laws a^ra^s=a^(r+s) from nonnegative integer exponents to all integer exponents. In particular, a^(-1) is the multiplicative inverse of a.


See also

Exponent Laws, Multiplicative Inverse, Power

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References

Lang, S. Basic Mathematics. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1988.

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Negative Exponent." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/NegativeExponent.html

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