I don't really understand this?

[m3f]

4(3/2^-1)

What is it called, and can somebody please give me some pointers on how to solve?

 

[rbcc]

4(3/2^-1)

so when you are multiplying a number by a fraction, you just multiply that number by the numerator so

4*3=12

that is you new numerator

12/2^-1

now for the denominator, you could bring it to the top because the exponent is negative, bringing it to the top will make it positive

12(2^1)=12*2=24

alternatively, 2^-1 is equivalent to 1/2 so you would have

12/(1/2)

when you have something like this, flip the fraction that you have on the denominator and multiply by the numerator
(2/1)* 12
=24

 

[pka]

4(3/2^-1)

If you mean \(\displaystyle 4\dfrac{3}{2^{-1}}\) then you should have typed 4(3/2^{-1}).

But you can use LaTeX code [TEX]4\dfrac{3}{2^{-1}}[/TEX] gives \(\displaystyle 4\dfrac{3}{2^{-1}}\).