Simplify w^-2(4w)^2

$w^{- 2} {(4 w)}^{2}$

Step 1

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

$\frac{1}{w^{2}} {(4 w)}^{2}$

Step 2

Simplify the expression.

Apply the product rule to $4 w$ .

$\frac{1}{w^{2}} (4^{2} w^{2})$

Rewrite using the commutative property of multiplication.

$4^{2} \frac{1}{w^{2}} w^{2}$

Raise $4$ to the power of $2$ .

$16 \frac{1}{w^{2}} w^{2}$

Step 3

Combine $16$ and $\frac{1}{w^{2}}$ .

$\frac{16}{w^{2}} w^{2}$

Step 4

Cancel the common factor of $w^{2}$ .

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{16}{w^{2}} w^{2}$

Rewrite the expression.

$16$