Simplify (a^3b^3)(ab)^-2

$(a^{3} b^{3}) {(a b)}^{- 2}$

Step 1

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

$a^{3} b^{3} \frac{1}{{(a b)}^{2}}$

Step 2

Apply the product rule to $a b$ .

$a^{3} b^{3} \frac{1}{a^{2} b^{2}}$

Step 3

Cancel the common factor of $a^{2} b^{2}$ .

Factor $a^{2} b^{2}$ out of $a^{3} b^{3}$ .

$a^{2} b^{2} (a b) \frac{1}{a^{2} b^{2}}$

Cancel the common factor.

$a^{2} b^{2} (a b) \frac{1}{a^{2} b^{2}}$

Rewrite the expression.

$a b$