Graph Using a Table of Values y=0.5^x

$y = {0.5}^{x}$

Substitute $- 2$ for $x$ and find the result for $y$ .

$y = {0.5}^{- 2}$

Simplify ${0.5}^{- 2}$ .

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

$y = \frac{1}{{0.5}^{2}}$

Raise $0.5$ to the power of $2$ .

$y = \frac{1}{0.25}$

Divide $1$ by $0.25$ .

$y = 4$

Substitute $- 1$ for $x$ and find the result for $y$ .

$y = {0.5}^{- 1}$

Simplify ${0.5}^{- 1}$ .

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

$y = \frac{1}{0.5}$

Divide $1$ by $0.5$ .

$y = 2$

Substitute $0$ for $x$ and find the result for $y$ .

$y = {0.5}^{0}$

Anything raised to $0$ is $1$ .

$y = 1$

Substitute $1$ for $x$ and find the result for $y$ .

$y = {0.5}^{1}$

Evaluate the exponent.

$y = 0.5$

Substitute $2$ for $x$ and find the result for $y$ .

$y = {0.5}^{2}$

Raise $0.5$ to the power of $2$ .

$y = 0.25$

This is a table of possible values to use when graphing the equation.

$\begin{array}{c} x & y \\ - 2 & 4 \\ - 1 & 2 \\ 0 & 1 \\ 1 & 0.5 \\ 2 & 0.25 \end{array}$