Whenever you see a variable (letter) without any exponent, it's exponent is 1.
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3xy + 3y2 = 3y (x + y)
(x - 4y)(x + y)
A negative exponent means the reciprocal of the positive exponent → y^-8 = 1/(y^8) = 1/(y×y×y×y×y×y×y×y)
The reciprocal of a^(-x/y) is 1/a^(x/y). The fact that the exponent is a fraction makes no difference.
That equals 2xy + 3y which factors to y(2x + 3)