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Quotient of Powers Property

Suppose \(a\) is a nonzero real number and \(x\) and \(y\) are any integers,

$$\large{{{a^x}} \over {{a^y}}} = {a^{x - y}}$$

Description: To divide powers that have the same base, copy the common base then subtract the exponents.

Some examples:

$${{{6^8}} \over {{6^5}}} = {6^{8 - 5}} = {6^3}$$

$${{{{\left( { - 3} \right)}^5}} \over {{{\left( { - 3} \right)}^3}}} = {\left( { - 3} \right)^{5 - 3}} = {\left( { - 3} \right)^2}$$

Math Topics
Laws of Exponents
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