Simplify (8m^-2)/(4n^-1)

$\frac{8 m^{- 2}}{4 n^{- 1}}$

Simplify the expression.

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

$\frac{8}{4 n^{- 1} m^{2}}$

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

$\frac{8 n}{4 m^{2}}$

Cancel the common factor of $8$ and $4$ .

Factor $4$ out of $8 n$ .

$\frac{4 (2 n)}{4 m^{2}}$

Cancel the common factors.

Factor $4$ out of $4 m^{2}$ .

$\frac{4 (2 n)}{4 (m^{2})}$

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{4 (2 n)}{4 m^{2}}$

Rewrite the expression.

$\frac{2 n}{m^{2}}$