Evaluate (-3^-2)/(4^-1)

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

Step 1

Move $3^{- 2}$ to the denominator using the negative exponent rule $b^{- n} = \frac{1}{b^{n}}$ .

$\frac{- 1}{4^{- 1} \cdot 3^{2}}$

Step 2

Move $4^{- 1}$ to the numerator using the negative exponent rule $\frac{1}{b^{- n}} = b^{n}$ .

$\frac{- 1 \cdot 4}{3^{2}}$

Step 3

Multiply $- 1$ by $4$ .

$\frac{- 4}{3^{2}}$

Step 4

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

$\frac{- 4}{9}$

Step 5

Move the negative in front of the fraction.

$- \frac{4}{9}$

Step 6

The result can be shown in multiple forms.

Exact Form:

$- \frac{4}{9}$

Decimal Form:

$- 0.\overline{4}$