In week 4 of math, we continued with exponents and for the most part we reviewed from the week before. However, there were a few things that I did learn about before our unit test. For this week’s post, I will show you a process I learned about how to use exponents. This process is called, “FLOWER POWER.”
Flower Power is a method or way to help us remember how to change an expression (with a fraction as an exponent) into a mixed radical expression. It’s really simple and easy to learn.
For our example, we are going to use 
. Looking at the picture below will help a lot to follow what I am explaining what to do. First we begin by multiplying the exponents together. We know that the x by itself is actually 
so its exponent in fraction form will be 
. Before we multiply, remember that exponents don’t like to follow orders so instead, we are going to actually 
add the exponents together. However, if we add fractions together (because our exponents are fractions), we also have to remember that the denominators need to be the same and share a common factor. In this case, the lowest common factor it is 2 so we are going to multiply by 2 both in the numerator and the denominator to make 
so that the two fractions have common denominators. So once we are done doing this, we will add numerators together and we get 
. Next is the part where we are going to use “Flower Power.” So in order to know how to make the number into a mixed radical, we need to know what our root is going to be. In this case, we are going to pretend that 
is a flower. In flowers, the root is always going to be at the bottom where the plant gets its nutrients. For fractions, it is the same. The root of the mixed radical is going to be the number in the denominator when the fraction is simplified. Remembering the term “Flower Power” will help you remember how to find the root when doing this process and make your life a whole lot easier. For our mixed radical , the 2 is going to be our square root because it is the number in the denominator and the 9 which is in the numerator, is the stem or the top part of the plant which is going to be an exponent to the X. So in the end, our final answer is 
.
I hope that makes it a lot easier when you have to convert exponents with fractions into mixed radicals.
Flower Power is a method or way to help us remember how to change an expression (with a fraction as an exponent) into a mixed radical expression. It’s really simple and easy to learn.
add the exponents together. However, if we add fractions together (because our exponents are fractions), we also have to remember that the denominators need to be the same and share a common factor. In this case, the lowest common factor it is 2 so we are going to multiply