Exponents and Order of Operations

Topics for Today:

As with any language, algebra has some basic rules that must be followed to arrive at a correct answer.  Sometimes there are multiple ways to express an answer or number so we need a set of rules to follow so we always arrive at the same answer for any one particular problem.  The order of operations is a set of rules that tells problem solvers which operations to perform and in what order.

Vocabulary: simplify, exponent, base, power, order of operations (PEMDAS), evaluate 

Sections Covered in Textbook:

1-2: Exponents and Order of Operations (pages 9 - 16)

Resources & Tutorials:

1) What is the order of operations?
2) How do you use the order of operations

Zero and Negative Exponents

Topics for Today:

We began a discussion about powers, bases and exponents today, and focused on bases with a zero exponent as well as negative exponents.

Summary

• Any non-zero number raised to the zero power equals one!
• Negative exponents are fractions.  If a factor is moved up or down in a fraction, the sign of the exponent is changed.  

Sections Covered in Textbook:

8-1: Zero and Negative Exponents (pages 394-399)

Resources & Tutorials:

1) What do you do with a zero exponent? 
2) What do you do with a negative exponent?