Evaluate -16^(-3/4)

$- 16^{- \frac{3}{4}}$

Step 1

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

$- \frac{1}{16^{\frac{3}{4}}}$

Step 2

Simplify the denominator.

Rewrite $16$ as $2^{4}$ .

$- \frac{1}{{(2^{4})}^{\frac{3}{4}}}$

Apply the power rule and multiply exponents, ${(a^{m})}^{n} = a^{m n}$ .

$- \frac{1}{2^{4 (\frac{3}{4})}}$

Cancel the common factor of $4$ .

Cancel the common factor.

$- \frac{1}{2^{4 (\frac{3}{4})}}$

Rewrite the expression.

$- \frac{1}{2^{3}}$

Raise $2$ to the power of $3$ .

$- \frac{1}{8}$

Step 3

The result can be shown in multiple forms.

Exact Form:

$- \frac{1}{8}$

Decimal Form:

$- 0.125$