4 to the negative first power?

Answer 1

4 to the negative 1st power is written

4^-1

to get rid of the negative exponent, take the inverse (flip the denominator and numerator). So,

4^-1 becomes

1/(4^1)

4^1 = 4 so we see that

1/(4^1) = 1/4.

So,

4^-1 = 1/4