Simplify -3m^-2np^-4

$- 3 m^{- 2} n p^{- 4}$

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

$- 3 \frac{1}{m^{2}} n p^{- 4}$

Combine $- 3$ and $\frac{1}{m^{2}}$ .

$\frac{- 3}{m^{2}} n p^{- 4}$

Move the negative in front of the fraction.

$- \frac{3}{m^{2}} n p^{- 4}$

Combine $n$ and $\frac{3}{m^{2}}$ .

$- \frac{n \cdot 3}{m^{2}} p^{- 4}$

Move $3$ to the left of $n$ .

$- \frac{3 \cdot n}{m^{2}} p^{- 4}$

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

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

Multiply $\frac{1}{p^{4}}$ by $\frac{3 n}{m^{2}}$ .

$- \frac{3 n}{p^{4} m^{2}}$