maths help please...?

Question

i'm not good in using english terms for maths. what do you say in english for followings, i'll give an ex. pls try to understand and answer me.

x^y (eg: 2^3) - what do you call in englis for this type things (y)

how do you call them when the sign infront of y changes,

eg: x^+y and x^-y

Answer 1

in x^y, y is called an index, also called power. (Thus this area of mathematics is called indices, from index.)

When y becomes bigger, the power increases.

When y becomes smaller, the power decreases.

Tried to keep it simple, hope this answers your question!

Answer 2

y is an exponent, as is the 3 in 2^3.
Also you should know the x is the base in x^3 as is the 2 in 2^3.

x^+1 and x^-1 are called reciprocals or multiplicative inverses.
x^-y is 1/(x^y)
So x^y and x^(-y) are called reciprocals or multiplicative inverses (inverses for multiplication,) because x^y*x^-y = x^0 or 1.
Whenever you multiply two numbers and get 1 the numbers are called reciprocals or multiplicative inverses (inverses for multiplication.)
Other examples 3*(1/3)=1,
2/3*3/2 = 1
or more generally a*a^-1
Good luck with your English, the nice thing about mathematics is much of what is written can be understood in all languages.

Answer 3

Power or index. It means that you multiply x by itself y times. So in your example: 2^3 = 2x2x2 = 8. When the sign in front of y changes, this is a negative index and indicates an index value less than 1. So for example: 4^-2 = square root of 4 = 2, which, if you think about it, is the reverse process of positive powers.

Hope this is of value.

Dave

Answer 4

2 raised to the third power or x raised to the power y

x^-y is x raised to the power -y or 1/x^y = 1 divided by x raised to the power y

x^2 = x squared
x^3 = x cubed
x^4 = x raised to the 4th power (4th is short for fourth)
x^y = x raised to the yth power
x^-6 = x raised to the negative 6th power, etc

Answer 5

x^y means x to the power of y
but i have no clue on the other one.

Answer 6

sorry....but i have no clue