Simplify -5a^-2bc^-3

$- 5 a^{- 2} b c^{- 3}$

Step 1

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

$- 5 \frac{1}{a^{2}} b c^{- 3}$

Step 2

Combine $- 5$ and $\frac{1}{a^{2}}$ .

$\frac{- 5}{a^{2}} b c^{- 3}$

Step 3

Move the negative in front of the fraction.

$- \frac{5}{a^{2}} b c^{- 3}$

Step 4

Combine $b$ and $\frac{5}{a^{2}}$ .

$- \frac{b \cdot 5}{a^{2}} c^{- 3}$

Step 5

Move $5$ to the left of $b$ .

$- \frac{5 \cdot b}{a^{2}} c^{- 3}$

Step 6

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

$- \frac{5 b}{a^{2}} \cdot \frac{1}{c^{3}}$

Step 7

Multiply $\frac{1}{c^{3}}$ by $\frac{5 b}{a^{2}}$ .

$- \frac{5 b}{c^{3} a^{2}}$