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1. asnaseer Group Title

if this was instead just: x + x what would the answer be?

2. emzy_777 Group Title

2x

3. asnaseer Group Title

correct, so now replace x by $$2^{70}$$ and what do you get?

4. emzy_777 Group Title

4^70...

5. asnaseer Group Title

not quite, you get two lots of $$2^{70}$$ which can be written as:$2\times2^{70}$

6. asnaseer Group Title

you can now use the law of exponents to simplify this

7. asnaseer Group Title

e.g.:$x^a\times x^b=x^{a+b}$

8. asnaseer Group Title

use the fact that:$2=2^1$

9. emzy_777 Group Title

ok i kinda get it

10. asnaseer Group Title

great! :)

11. emzy_777 Group Title

its just confusing because i asumed that the answer would be 2^140

12. asnaseer Group Title

you have 2 to the power of 1 times 2 to the power of 70. so, using the law of exponents I showed above, the answer should be 2 to the power of "1 plus 70"

13. asnaseer Group Title

think of a simpler example:$2^3=2\times2\times2$

14. asnaseer Group Title

so:$2\times2^3=2\times2\times2\times2=2^4=2^{1+3}$

15. phi Group Title

first, this is a special case.. it is not a general rule but 2^70 * 2^70 you add exponents to get 2^140 but here they are adding 2^70 + 2^70 you can factor out 2^70 to get 2^70(1+1) or 2^70 * 2^1 or 2^71 but notice this does NOT WORK: 2^70 + 2^70 + 2^70 you factor out 2^70 to get 2^70(1+1+1)= 3* 2^70 and that is all we can do

16. emzy_777 Group Title

how would you do it with fractions though? like 2^1/3+2^1/3+2^1/3+2^1/3

17. asnaseer Group Title

same rules apply:$2^a\times2^b=2^{a+b}$even if a and b area fractions

18. asnaseer Group Title

you may find this helpful: http://www.mathsisfun.com/exponent.html

19. phi Group Title

you could say 2^1/3+2^1/3+2^1/3+2^1/3 is the same as 4* 2^(1/3) now it happens that 4 is 2^2 so you write it as 2^2 * 2^(1/3) now use the add exponent rule : when multiplying two numbers with the SAME BASE, add their exponents

20. phi Group Title