ABSTRACT
Indices may be manipulated by multiplication, division or even as ‘powers of powers’.
As an example of multiplication, consider a term such as 4 × 4 × 4 × 4 × 4 × 4. This can be expressed as 46 and also as (4 × 4) × (4 × 4 × 4 × 4), which is equivalent to 42 × 44. In other words, 42 × 44 = 42+4 = 46. In general, we can state that
As an example of division, consider a term such as
This is equivalent to
5 5
5 5 5 5 5 5 5
× × × ×
×
a a am n m n× = + .
