Evaluate 10*2^-2

$10 \cdot 2^{- 2}$

Step 1

Rewrite the expression using the negative exponent rule $b^{- n} = \frac{1}{b^{n}}$ .

$10 \cdot \frac{1}{2^{2}}$

Step 2

Raise $2$ to the power of $2$ .

$10 \cdot \frac{1}{4}$

Step 3

Cancel the common factor of $2$ .

Factor $2$ out of $10$ .

$2 (5) \cdot \frac{1}{4}$

Factor $2$ out of $4$ .

$2 \cdot 5 \cdot \frac{1}{2 \cdot 2}$

Cancel the common factor.

$2 \cdot 5 \cdot \frac{1}{2 \cdot 2}$

Rewrite the expression.

$5 \cdot \frac{1}{2}$

Step 4

Combine $5$ and $\frac{1}{2}$ .

$\frac{5}{2}$

Step 5

The result can be shown in multiple forms.

Exact Form:

$\frac{5}{2}$

Decimal Form:

$2.5$

Mixed Number Form:

$2 \frac{1}{2}$