humakhan said:
(x^-3 + y^-6) * (x^6/y^2)
(x^3/y^2) + (x^6/y^8)
(x^3/y^2) * (1 + x^3/y^6)
Okay, so you're doing the inversion first, instead of waiting to do that in the end. This will still work but, to count as being "simplified", you still need to do the other bits. You started with:
. . . . .\(\displaystyle \L \frac{x^{-3}\, +\, y^{-6}}{x^{-6}\, y^{2}}\)
You inverted first and multiplied:
. . . . .\(\displaystyle \L \left(x^{-3}\, +\, y^{-6}\right) \left(\frac{x^6}{y^2}\right)\)
Then you multiplied through, which simplifies as:
. . . . .\(\displaystyle \L \left(\frac{1}{x^3}\right)\left(\frac{x^6}{y^2}\right)\, +\, \left(\frac{1}{y^6}\right)\left(\frac{x^6}{y^2}\right)\)
. . . . .\(\displaystyle \L \frac{x^3}{y^2}\, +\, \frac{x^6}{y^8}\)
For some reason, you then re-factored, which is almost certainly not what your book wants. Instead, convert the two fractions to the common denominator of "y<sup>8</sup>", and combine into one fraction. This will give you the same answer as the step-by-step instructions that were provided earlier.
Eliz.