negative: a negative exponent indicates the inverse operation from a positive integer exponent. it indicates how many times to divide by the base, rather then multiply. negative are a way of writing powers of fractions or decimals without using a fractions or decimal. you have to use negative exponents as a way to combine expressions with the same base. weather the different factors are in the numerator or denominator. The more negative the exponent, the smaller the value. This is especially important in the sciences when talking about orders of magnitude.
Examples
1. 2-5:
2. 
:
