Exponents Discovery

Monday, October 07, 2013 10:53 AM

Title: Exponents Discovery Wiki Tags: williamsp1, exponentswiki Grading Rubric Part 1: Powers of Constants Go to the following site to explore exponents where the base is a constant (number).

Use the scroll bar under the problem to see what happens as you multiply groups of 2 by clicking PLAY (the forward arrow).

Next, click on the Components button at the top. Drag the two circles that say DRAG and read the text in blue above the example. Next, click on the forward arrow on the scroll bar to go to the next problem.

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Continue dragging any blue Drag circles, clicking on the forward arrow and reading the information in blue at the top until this section is complete. In the next component, click on the two Drag circles, one at a time and note what happens.

1. In One Note, type a paragraph explaining what you have learned. 2. What is a base? A base is the base number that is being repeated by the exponent 3. What is a power? A power is the exponent that show how many times the base number is repeated the base number 4. What does a base and power (exponent) tell you to do? The power tells you how many times to repeat the multiplication
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The power tells you how many times to repeat the multiplication 5. What is a power a shortcut to? It is a shortcut to repeated multiplication 6. How could you use geometry to describe squaring or cubing a number? Part 2: Negative and Positive Powers Continue working in One Note. Use the information below to fill out the table below. Suppose you are working with a base of 2. In One Note, determine what happens to 2 when you have 2^1, 2^2, 2^3, and 2^4. Show what each one means and what each one equals. Look at the answers for each of these. Copy the table below into One Note.

Base

Exponent Meaning

Value

4 2
3 2 2 2 1 2 0

2x2x2x2

16

2x2x2

2x2

2
-1 2 -2 2 -3 2 -4 2 2 x -2 x -2 x -2 1/16 2 x -2 x -2 1/8 2 x -2 1/4 2 x -1 1/2

Fill in the powers of 1, 2, 3, and 4 with the information you just found. Copy, paste and answer the questions below into your One Note page. Start with 2 to the first power. As you increase the exponent, what is operation happening to the base? What is happening is 2*1 Starting with the exponent of 4, as you decrease each exponent, what operation is happening to the base?
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base? It is dividing by 2 each time Now, decrease the exponent from 1 to 0 and using the pattern you have discovered, determine the value of 2 to the 0 power and fill in the table. Continue with this pattern to fill out the rest of the table. Double check your table. Does the pattern work from 2^-4 to 2^4 as the exponent increases each time? yes Does the pattern work from 2^4 to 2^-4 as the exponent decreases each time? yes Part 3: Powers of Variables

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.

Use constants to help you think through what happens with variables in the following list of questions. What do you get when you add x by x? 2x What do you get when you subtract x by x? 0 What do you get when you multiply x by x? x^2 What do you get when you divide x by x? 1 What do you get when you multiply x by x by x? x^3 What about x by x by x by x by x? x^5 What do you get when you multiply x^2 by x? 2x^3 What about x^2 by x^3? 2x^5 What about x^4 by x^6? 2x^10 Come up with a rule that explains what happens when you multiply same bases. You add the exponents together and still use the same base times 2. What do you get when you divide x by x? 1 What do you get when you multiply x^2 by x? 2x^2 What about x^4 by x^2? 2x^6 What do you get when you divide x^5 by x^3? 1^8 What about x^6 by x? 2x^6 Come up with a rule that explains what happens when you divide same bases. The rule is they turn into 1 because a number divided by itself is 1 What do you get when you square x^3?
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17. What do you get when you square x^3? x^9 18. What do you get when you square x^4? x^16 19. What do you get when you cube x^2? 2x^4 20. What do you get when you raise x^3 to the fourth power? 3x^4 21. What do you get when you raise x^2 to the fifth power? 2x^5 22. Come up with a rule that explains what happens when you raise a base with an exponent by an exponent. You keep the same base and multiply the exponent Part 4: Uploading to Scribd Upload the One Note Notebook page to Scribd and then embed into your blog.

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