Question

Why is it that (xy)^-1 = x^-1y^-1?

Answer:

We know that any number raised to -1 is its reciprocal.
Therefore, we have (xy)^-1 = 1/xy which is equal to (1/x)*(1/y).
We see that the result is the product of the reciprocals of x and y and therefore we can also write it as x^-1y^-1.


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