SECTION 1 ROUNDING OFF NUMBERS p.

3
p.3
1.1 INTRODUCTION p.3
1.2 HOW TO STUDY p.3
1.3 ROUND OFF p.3
1.4 REVIEW p.7
SECTION 2 ORDER OF OPERATIONS p.9
p.9
2.1 INTRODUCTION p.9
2.2 ORDER OF OPERATIONS p.9
SECTION 3 POWER OF 10 p.12
p.12
3.1 INTRODUCTION p.12
3.2 POWERS OF 10 p.12
3.3 SHIFTING THE DECIMAL COMMA p.13
3.4 SCIENTIFIC NOTATION p.14
SECTION 4 EXPONENTS p.16
p.16
DO YOU MANAGE YOUR TIME WELL? p.16
4.1 INTRODUCTION p.18
4.2 WHOLE NUMBER POWERS p.19
4.3 INTEGER POWERS p.20
SECTION 5 ROOTS p.23
p.23
5.1 INTRODUCTION p.23
5.2 SQUARE ROOT p.24
5.3 N-th ROOTS p.25
ANSWERS TO UNIT 1 ACTIVITIES p.27

Unit 1 - 2 Basic Operations

 UNIT 1
BASIC OPERATIONS

SECTION 1 ROUNDING OFF NUMBERS

LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this section you should be able to:
■ Apply a method of how to study.
■ Round off a number to any power of 10 th place.
■ Round off a number to any decimal place.

1.1 INTRODUCTION
In this section we discuss how you should plan and prepare for a piece of mathematical study and
we review the progress which you have made in developing a method of study.
We hope that by this time you are beginning to sort out your ideas about study and note taking, as a
result of your work. In this section we shall try to help you to consolidate these ideas.

1.2 HOW TO STUDY

You should start a section or a unit by looking at its overall plan and only after you have sorted out
the overall plan should you attempt to go through the text in detail.

1.3 ROUND OFF

Numbers are rounded off to make them easier to handle and compare.

Suppose 6 792 tickets were sold at an athletics meeting. Athletics

Newspapers would probably report an attendance Attendance
of 7 000 if they were to round off the figure to the nearest of 7 000
1 000, 6 800 if they round off to the nearest 100,
or 6 790 if they round off to the nearest ten.

We round up if the number is halfway or more to the next number. We round down if the number is
less than halfway to the next rounding number.

This process is called rounding.

Example
Suppose you have to drive 877km. You will probably think to yourself that this is almost 880km.
877km is considerably closer to 880km than it is to 870km, so 880km is a reasonable approximation.

In this case, 877km has been rounded up to 880km. Similarly, 872km would be rounded down to
870km because it is closer to 870km than it is to 880km. Both numbers have been rounded to the
nearest 10.

Unit 1 - 3 Basic Operations

Example
Let us look at the previous example again. Suppose you have to drive 877km. You will probably
think to yourself that this is almost 900km. 877km is considerably closer to 900km than it is to
800km, so 900km is a reasonable approximation.

In this case, 877km has been rounded up to 900km. Similarly, 847km would be rounded down to
800km because it is closer to 800km than it is to 900km. Both numbers have been rounded to the
nearest 100.

NOTE

To round off a number, look at the digit to the right of the digit to which the number must be
rounded off.
* If this digit is 5 or more, then we round up. (Add 1 to the previous digit and zeros for
the other digits.)
* If the digit is smaller than 5, then we round down. (Leave the previous digit and write
zeros for the other digits.)

Example
Round off 86 712 to the nearest:
(a) 10
(b) 100
(c) 1 000
(d) 10 000
Solution:
(a) 86 712

This digit is two, which is less than 5, then we round down to 86 710.
(b) 86 712

This digit is a one, which is less than 5, then we round down to 86 700.
(c) 86 712

This digit is a seven, which is more than 5, then we round up to 87 000.

(d) 86 712

This digit is a six, which is more than 5, then we round up to 90 000

Unit 1 - 4 Basic Operations

Example
Let us look at the travel example again. Suppose you have to drive 877,80km. You will probably
think to yourself that this is almost 878,00km. 877,80km is considerably closer to 878,00km than it
is to 877,00km, so 878,00km is a reasonable approximation.

In this case, 877,80km has been rounded up to 878,00km. Similarly, 877,30km would be rounded
down to 877,00km because it is closer to 877,00km than it is to 878,00km. Both numbers have been
rounded to the nearest whole number.

Example
Suppose you have to drive 877,82km. You will probably think to yourself that this is almost
877,80km. 877,82km is considerably closer to 877,80km than it is to 877,90km, so 877,80km is a
reasonable approximation.

In this case, 877,82km has been rounded down to 877,80km. Similarly, 877,87km would be
rounded up to 877,90km because it is closer to 877,90km than it is to 878,80km. Both numbers have
been rounded to 1 decimal.

Certain answers which are obtained when calculating must be rounded off if they are to have any
meaning. This is one reason why you have to know how to round off.

Example
R10,36 ÷ 10 = R1,036 . This amount is meaningless, the only sensible answer is R1,04 to the nearest
cent, or to two decimal places.
R1,036

This digit is six, which is more than 5, then we round up to R1,04.

Example
Round off R351,357 to:
(a) 2 decimal places
(b) 1 decimal place
(c) the nearest integer
(d) the nearest 10
(e) the nearest 100
Solution:
(a) R351,357

This decimal is seven, which is more than 5, then we round up to R351,36.

(b) R351,357

This decimal is five, which is equal to 5, then we round up to R351,40.

(c) R351,357

This decimal is a three, which is less than 5, then we round down to R351.

Unit 1 - 5 Basic Operations

(d) R351,357

This digit is a one, which is less than 5, then we round down to R350.
(e) R351,357

This digit is five, which is equal to 5, then we round up to, R400.

Numbers are rounded off in order to estimate answers.

Example
7,3 × 9,8 ≈ 7 × 10 = 70
( ≈ is the symbol for “is approximately equal to”.)

NOTE

* It is much easier to calculate or estimate using round figures.

* The bigger the amount the more you can round off e.g. 8 to 10; 86 to 90; 289 to 300.
* It is often useful to round and estimate when you are using a calculator so that you
have an idea of what the answer should be.
* If you wish to be accurate, estimate, then calculate.

ACTIVITY 1.1
1. Complete the table below:
Equation Estimate ( ≈ ) Calculator ( = )
R 237 + R 48 + R149
152cm + 302cm − 48cm − 121cm
R3,20 + R1,03 − R 0,40
2. Round off 8 564 245 to the nearest
(a) 10
(b) 100
(c) 1 000
(d) 1 000 000
3. Round off R75,3568 to
(a) 1 decimal place
(b) 2 decimal places
(c) 3 decimal places
(d) the nearest integer
4. A chair costs about R4 679,00. Round this number off to the easiest number to handle.
5. John and his three brothers have to divided R6 344,65 among them. Estimate how
should this amount be divided equally among them?
6. You have paid the handyman R6580; R7010; R9690. Make an estimation of the total amount
you have paid.

Unit 1 - 6 Basic Operations

7. Use your calculator to round off the value of π to 5 decimals.
For thousands of years mathematicians have searched for estimations for π . Here are some of
the values they have used.
Time Estimate Decimal
Egyptians 256
1650 BC 81
Greeks 223 22
240 BC between and
71 7
377
150 AD
120
Chinese 355
480 113
Hindu
530 62832
20000
3927
1150 or 10
1250
European 377 333
1585 between and
120 106
7.1 Change all these estimations to decimals in the table above. Round off to 5 decimals.
7.2 Compare them. Which one is the largest? Which one is the smallest?
7.3 Which estimation in the table are the closest to the value of π .

1.4 REVIEW
We should like you to pause now to review your work so far. Both the conditions under which you
have worked and your feelings about progress (or otherwise).

ACTIVITY 1.2
This activity is structured rather differently from those which you have met already. We shall ask
you to consider answers to six questions about your experience of study. In each case the question
is followed by some discussion which may be relevant to your answer. We urge you to give some
thought to each question and the reasons for your answer before reading the discussion.

■ Have you enjoyed your study?

► Of course we hope that you have, or at least most of it. It may be
the case that you are familiar already with the material and that you
have not enjoyed re-reading it. At the other end of the spectrum it may be that you are trying
to work under too much pressure or that your lack of enjoyment is linked to a feeling of lack
of progress. It is quite natural that your progress should seem slow to begin with: Things
should improve as you work through the course.

Unit 1 - 7 Basic Operations

■ Did your concentration wane at all?
► Probably you would be being less than truthful if you
did not answer ‘Yes’ to this question. What is important,
however is whether it happened to such an extent that it
hindered your progress. Again the reason here might be
the lack of stimulation. Another reason for losing concentration
might be that you are trying to work for too long at a stretch. Learning is a time-
consuming process and it takes time for anybody to assimilate ideas. But it is no
good simply spending long periods of time reading and re-reading material. After a certain
time (approximately two hours for many of us, even less for some) further study is very
unproductive, almost to the point of being useless. Most people need to break their
concentration, at least for a short time, after a relatively short period of study. If you
recognise that you are becoming unproductive perhaps you should stop working for a while.

■ Did you take longer than you had expected over the work?
► One obvious reason for this is that your estimates of time
for study were unrealistic and you may have to accept this and plan your work schedule
accordingly. Is the problem over time related to your ability to concentrate or are you being
too thorough or making too many notes?

■ Can you remember what you have read?

► If you know that you are having trouble remembering the material
which you have studied, then adopting a study pattern which includes
reviewing previous sections before continuing, may help you. Perhaps
you could make more use of your notes for the purpose of reviewing your work. The act of
taking notes can help you to remember material. You might consider putting more effort into
note taking: for example making a very full set of notes (but not writing out the chapter!) at
one reading, then condensing them to a smaller set, illustrating only the main points to be
filed for future reference.

■ Do your notes enable you to recall what you have read?

► If you are using your notes to review your work, you should be
able to decide whether or not they are adequate. The secret of
good note taking is to achieve a sensible balance, including all the important results but not
too much unimportant detail.

■ Has your study so far led to any conflict with work or social
commitments, friends or family?
► It is difficult for us to advise you about conflict caused by study,
but you may need to reconsider what you have given up, or could
give up, to make time for your study. In particular conflict can occur when your own
sacrifices have forced others to make sacrifices too. Perhaps these should be the subject of
discussions, or even negotiations, but you will have to establish your own priorities. If some
conflict is unresolved it is most important that you should do what you can to improve things
as quickly as possible. You should do anything which you can to involve those around you
in your work, in the hope that they will share your enthusiasm for your study. In particular
family or friends may not appreciate your need to be undisturbed while you are studying but
it is worth sorting this out sooner rather than later.

Unit 1 - 8 Basic Operations

We hope that you are beginning to establish some sort of study pattern and that you have taken
some time to reconsider your work so far.

SECTION 2 ORDER OF OPERATIONS

LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this section you should be able to:
■ Evaluate expressions by using the correct order of operations mentally.

2.1 INTRODUCTION
In this sections we will review the study skills which we have introduced so far.
We are not going to introduce any new skills in this section, but we should like you to practise the
skills which we have introduced so far by reading the next pages.

REVIEW
Here is a checklist of the things which we should like you to bear in mind while you read through
the pages.
STAGE 1: Look through the section. Decide on its main theme and results. Add to this
factual information, including an estimate of study time.
SATGE 2: Read through the section, working through the exercises, making notes and
trying to master techniques. Read to understand, and not simply to memorise.
STAGE 3: Review your summary and file of worked examples. Note remaining difficulties
for further work or in order to seek advise later. Highlight key points in your
solutions with fluorescent pens or in some other way.
STAGE 4: Practise recall by
(i) listing, or drawing a diagram to include all key points in your initial
summaries or in your worked examples.
(ii) testing yourself with a random selection of further examples from the
exercise.

2.2 ORDER OF OPERATIONS

ACTIVITY 1.3
Decide how long it will take you to read through this section. Read through the section. Try to pick
out the one or two things about which you want to know. Then study the section, work through the
examples and make some notes. Practice the four stages.

Unit 1 - 9 Basic Operations

 HOW DO WE FIND 5 + 6 × 3 ?

Is the answer 33 or is it 23?

There are many different makes of calculators and many different ways of using them. The
important thing for you is to get used to your calculator.

To use your calculator most effectively, you must become familiar with the keys and their
functions. The booklet that accompanies your calculator will tell you the order in which the keys
are used for calculations.

In using calculators we have to make sure we enter the numbers in the correct order.

5 + 6×3

5 + 6 × 3 =

Does it give 33 or 23? Which answer is correct? If you used a scientific calculator your answer
would be 23, otherwise your calculator would give the wrong answer of 33.

NOTE

Calculation order:
To avoid ambiguity, that is, to ensure that everyone gets the same answer, mathematicians have
agreed on a specific order in performing calculations.
* All ( ) first,
* then × or ÷ calculations are done secondly, from left to right,
* then + or - calculations are done lastly also from left to right.

Example
Evaluate the following:
1. 2 + 5(7 + 2)
= 2 + 5(9) … do the operations within parentheses
= 2 + 45 … × in the order they appear as you read from left to right
= 47 … + in the order they appear as you read from left to right

Unit 1 - 10 Basic Operations

2. (6 + 1) × 3 + (4 + 5)
= 7 × 3 + 9 … do the operations within parentheses
= 21 + 9 … × in the order they appear as you read from left to right
= 30 …+ in the order they appear as you read from left to right

3. 7 + (6 − 2) 2
= 7 + (4) 2 … do the operations within parentheses
= 7 + 16 … evaluate the power
= 23 …+ in the order they appear as you read from left to right

4. 5 + 6 × 3
= 5 + 18 … × in the order they appear as you read from left to right
= 23 …+ in the order they appear as you read from left to right

5. 10 ÷ 2 + 3 × 4 − 8
= 5 + 12 − 8 … × or ÷ in the order they appear as you read from left to right.
= 9 …+ or - in the order they appear as you read from left to right.

ACTIVITY 1.4
Evaluate the following mentally:
1. 3 + 2(1 + 4)
2. (2 + 5) × 4 + 2
3. (4 + 1) × 2 + (2 + 3)
14
4. 4(16 + 4) + − 8
7
5. 7 + (6 − 2) 2

6. 25 − 3 × 2 3
7. 8 − 3(9 − 2) ÷ 21 − 7
8. 2(9 + 5) − 6 × (13 + 2) ÷ 9

ACTIVITY 1.5
Looking back over your work, have you learned anything new? Do you feel that you have
understood most of the content of this section? In other words, can you apply the correct order of
operation? If not you should return (possibly after a break) to any skills which you have not
mastered.

Unit 1 - 11 Basic Operations

SECTION 3 POWER OF 10

LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this section you should be able to:
■ Illustrate that you can work with powers of 10 without a calculator.
■ Write any given number is scientific notation.

ACTIVITY 1.6
Decide how long it will take you to read through this section. Read through the section. Try to pick
out the one or two things about which you want to know. Then study the section, work through the
examples and make some notes. Practice the four stages.

3.1 INTRODUCTION
A good feeling for quantities or time spans is useful in various contexts. For example, the mass of
the sun is 2 × 10 30 kilogram, compared with the mass of the earth at 6 × 10 24 kilogram. This means
that the sun is roughly 333 thousand times heavier than the earth. The volume of the sun is 1,3
million times the volume of the earth.

Moving between millions and billions or billions and trillions should be interesting, but often it isn’t
because we lack an intuitive feeling for these numbers. Many people have little feeling for these
numbers and are even unaware that a million is 1 000 000; a billion is 1 000 000 000.

Rather than write numbers with strings of zeros either before or after the decimal comma, it is usual
to find large or small numbers written as a “normal-sized” number multiplied by an appropriate
power of ten.

Example
1. The number 300 can be written as 3× 10 2 .
2. The mass of a proton is 1,673 × 10 −27 kg .

3.2 POWERS OF 10
In each case, the power of 10 indicates how many times the number should be multiplied by 10:

10 3 This is called the power or exponent.

This is the number 10.

It refers to the number of 10’s that are multiplied

together. So that we have:
10 3 = 10 × 10 × 10
Unit 1 - 12 Basic Operations
 NOTE

In general:
* 10 x denotes multiplication x-times by ten.
* A negative power, as in 10 −3 , indicates division by the appropriate power of 10.
1
10 − x = x
10

Example
1. 101 = 10
2. 10 2 = 10 × 10 = 100
3. 10 3 = 10 × 10 × 10 = 1000

Example
1
1. 10 −1 = = 0,1
10
1
2. 10 − 2 = 2 = 0,01
10
1
3. 10 −3 = 3 = 0,001
10

3.3 SHIFTING THE DECIMAL COMMA

Multiplication by 10 x is useful if we need to move the position of the decimal comma in a number.

Example
We can “tidy up” numbers so that there is only one digit in front of the decimal point:
1. 345 = 3,45 × 10 2
2. 0,0345 = 3,45 × 10 − 2

NOTE

The rules governing the change in the exponent x in 10 x and the movement of the decimal point are:
* Each time we move the decimal point one place to the left, we increase the power from
x to x + 1 .
* Each time we move the decimal point one place to the right, we decrease the power
from x to x − 1 .

Unit 1 - 13 Basic Operations

Example
To show this we can proceed stage-by-stage with 345
(i) write 345,0 as 345 × 10 0

(ii) shifting the decimal point one place to the left, we increase the power by one
345,0 × 10 0 = 34,5 × 101
repeating stage (ii) we have
34,5 × 101 = 3,45 × 10 2

ACTIVITY 1.7
1. Rewrite the number 0,0254 by moving the decimal point two places to the right.
2. Rewrite the number 6859 by moving the decimal point three places to the left.

3.4 SCIENTIFIC NOTATION

Scientists frequently have to deal with very large numbers and very small numbers. For example,
Alpha Centauri, is about 40 350 000 000 000 000 meters from the earth. It is inconvenient to write
numbers like this, because they are hard to visualise and it is easy to make mistakes. So we rather
write them in scientific notation.

DEFINITION

A number in scientific format is written as a number between 1 and 10 multiplied by a power of 10.

For very large or very small numbers, the so-called scientific format is often clearer and easier to
work with than standard notation. There is nothing difficult or tricky about this kind of presentation.

Example
Let us look at some examples of numbers in scientific format again:
1. 7 × 104 = 7 × 10 000 = 70 000 (a seven with four zeros)
2. 3,8 × 105 = 3,8 × 100 000 = 380 000
3. 3 × 10−4 = 3 × 1/10 000 = 0,0003 (the three at the fourth place behind the decimal
point)
4. 4,2 × 10−3 = 4,2 × 1/1000 = 0,0042 (the four at the third place behind the decimal point)

Example
Write each of the numbers in normal form without the exponents.
1. 6,022 × 1015 = 6 022 000 000 000 000
2. 1,673 × 10 −17 = 0,000 000 000 000 000 016 73

Unit 1 - 14 Basic Operations

Example
40 350 000 000 000 000 is the same as 4,035 × 10 000 000 000 000 000 .
So it can be written as 4,305 × 1016 .

Example
3,5 3,5
0,0035 = = 3 = 3,5 × 10 −3
1 000 10

Example
The diameter of a human hair is 0,000075 m. Write the number in scientific notation.
Solution:
7,5 7,5
= 5 = 7,5 × 10 −5 m
100000 10

Example
Pluto is 5 950 000 000km from the sun. Write the number in scientific notation.
Solution:
5,95 × 1000000000 = 5,95 × 10 9 km

ACTIVITY 1.8
1. Write the following numbers in normal form without the exponents.
(a) The distance from the earth to the sun is 1,5 × 10 8 km.
(b) The mass of a house mouse is 1,5 × 10 −2 kg.
2. Write the following in scientific notation.
(a) Bloemfontein is about 1 000 000m from Cape Town.
(b) The sun has a diameter of 1 000 000 000m.
(c) The thickness of paper is 0,000 1m.
3. Write the number of seconds in one day in scientific notation.

ACTIVITY 1.9
1. The distance in kilometres from Earth to Mars is approximately 230 000 000.
Write this number in scientific notation.
distance
2. Light moves 30cm through the air in 0,000 000 001s. Find the speed = of
time
light in cm/s. Write the answer in normal form, and then in scientific notation.
3. A snail moves at about 10m in 1 000s. Find the speed of the snail in m/s. Write the answer
in normal form, and then in scientific notation.
4. A space rocket takes 2 years to travel from Earth to Mars. Given that there are 365
days in a year, calculate
(i) the number of hours in 2 years (write the number in scientific notation).
(ii) the average speed of the space rocket in kilometres per hour, correct to 1 decimal.

Unit 1 - 15 Basic Operations

 ACTIVITY 1.10
Looking back over your work, have you learnt anything new? Do you feel that you have
understood most of the content of this section? In other words, can you change a number in
scientific format? Can you demonstrate that you can work with powers of 10 on your calculator? If
not you should return (possibly after a break) to any skills which you have not mastered. Make a
list of any pages which you think require extra work. Check through your notes: do the topics seem
familiar? If not, add to your list.

So now your mathematical preparation is complete! We hope that you are satisfied with your
progress and your study so far. If looking back over the time you have spent on these sections, and
you do not feel satisfied with your progress, you should take stock of your situation. Have there
been problems fitting study into your life? If so, you may need to reconsider your pattern of study.
If your concern is less easy to pin-point, but perhaps you feel there is a lot to learn or that you have
difficulty remembering facts or you feel some lack of confidence about your study, then try not to
worry – you are not the fist student to feel like this! We wish you every success with your study.

SECTION 4 EXPONENTS

LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this section you should be able to:
■ Practice time management.
■ Change a given number in exponent form.
■ Apply the properties for exponents mentally.

DO YOU MANAGE YOUR TIME WELL?

Answer true or false:
1. I never seem to have enough time for things. TRUE/FALSE
2. I keep lists of things I need to do. TRUE/FALSE
3. I seldom get things done on time. TRUE/FALSE
4. I can always find time for myself. TRUE/FALSE
5. I always know why I’m doing what I’m doing. TRUE/FALSE
6. I plan my day by setting objectives. TRUE/FALSE

If you are a person who has learnt how to manage time, you will have answered like this:
1. false 2. true 3. false 4. true 5. true 6. true

Unit 1 - 16 Basic Operations

 WHAT ARE YOUR PERSONAL PRIORITIES?
In order to manage your time well, you need to become aware of the activities that make up your
daily routine. In list 1 determine the activities that are essential (that cannot be missed) and in list
2 the activities that you would like to do, but that you occasionally can miss.

LIST 1 LIST 2
ACTIVITIES THAT YOU HAVE TO ACTIVITIES THAT YOU WANT TO
DO (these are necessary and can’t be DO (could miss these occasionally)
missed)

MY FINAL LIST OF ACTIVITIES

Combine and prioritise the activities from the two columns in the table above.

DRAW UP A WEEKLY SCHEDULE

A schedule will help you to reach your goals and help you to track your progress.

Use one week, Monday to Saturday, as your time limit. There are 168 hours in one week. Work out
how many hours you spend on things that you have to do, except studying (e.g. sleeping, travelling,
eating, lectures, chores – based on list 1)

Activities that you have Hours/minutes per day x Hours

to do 7 or hours/minutes per
week
Sleep
Eat
Lectures
Travel
Chores

Subtotal 1
You also have to study. For every module you take, you will need a minimum of 6
hours per week. (minimum time for 5 modules = 30 hours)
2. Studying Subtotal 2
Activity hours (1) + study hours (2) = Subtotal 3
Now you can work out how much time you still have left in the week to spend on
leisure and relaxation and exercise and things that you want to do.
Time left 168 hours minus subtotal (3)

Unit 1 - 17 Basic Operations

 Some points to consider in drawing up your schedule:
1. Plan carefully. Avoid putting a heavy study load on a day when you have a lot of lectures.
2. Use time between lectures wisely, either for studying, e.g. looking for something in the library,
writing up notes or for relaxation (coffee or exercise).
3. Be realistic about your expectations of yourself. Remember, you do need to sleep (ideally 8
hours per night) and eat properly to function well. You are not a machine.
4. Become aware of your personal study rhythm (for example, do you feel very sleepy after
lunch, but wide-awake at midnight?) and use this information about yourself to plan your
studying.
5. Be flexible. If you are ill and miss 3 hours of studying scheduled for that particular day, do
not panic. Rearrange your leisure time later in the week to fit in the missed study time.
6. Previous unsuccessful study habits will be hard to break, so do not expect yourself to become a
perfect student overnight.
7. In planning what to study in your study sessions you need to allow time for four different types
of study activities:
• Revising work that has been covered in the distant past (last term)
• Revising work that has been covered in the recent past (last week)
• Preparing work for the near future (work for the following day(s))
• Working on tasks for the distant future (assignments)
8. Most modules count 16 credits which means that the average student should spend 160 hours
to be successful (this includes everything that you do concerning the module). If a semester is
12 weeks, it means that you have to spend at least 13 hours per week per module.

Drawing up a planner for longer periods of time such as a month, a term or semester requires the
same procedure as those learnt for the weekly schedule.
Snyders, S.M. (n.d.). How to make Higher Education Easier. University of Port Elizabeth.

4.1 INTRODUCTION
Many calculations in mathematics involve multiplying numbers by themselves and it is quite
common to meet powers greater than 2.

Example
1. 1 million is 10 × 10 × 10 × 10 × 10 × 10 = 10 6
2. 2 5 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 = 32

Unit 1 - 18 Basic Operations

4.2 WHOLE NUMBER POWERS

DEFINITION

A power only applies to the number or variable to the left of it.

43 This is called the power, 3.

This is called the base, 4.

4 3 tells you the number of times the base is repeated, so that we have 4 × 4 × 4 = 64 .

Example
1. 16 = 4 × 4 = 4 2
2. 8 = 2 × 2 × 2 = 2 3

ACTIVITY 1.11
Write the following in exponent form:
1. 9
2. 16
1
3.
4
729
4.
81

NOTE

* a0 = 1, with a any number except for 0.

* 00 is not defined.

Example
1. An even power of a negative number is positive.
(−2)4 = 24 = 16

2. An odd power of a negative number is negative.

(−2)3 = −23 = −8

Unit 1 - 19 Basic Operations

 ACTIVITY 1.12
1. Which of the following are true and which are false:
(a) (−3)3 = −(33)
(b) −(50 ) = 1
(c) 49 = 94
(d) −(24 ) = (−2)4
2. Evaluate the following:
( a ) ( − 4) 2
(b) (−2) 3
(c) −62

4.3 INTEGER POWERS

NOTE

Properties
1. a m a n = a m + n
( )
2. a m
n
= a m×n
3. (ab ) = a n × b n
n

n
a an
4.   = n ( b ≠ 0 )
b b
1
5. a −n = n (a ≠ 0 and n a whole number)
a

Example
11
1. 4 −1 = 1
=
= 0,25
4 4
1 1
2. (−3) −2 = =
(−3) 2 9

ACTIVITY 1.13
Evaluate the following:
1. (−4) −2
2. (−3) −3
3. − 5 −2
Unit 1 - 20 Basic Operations
When multiplying identical numbers with the same, or different powers, you need only add the
powers.

Example
1. 2 5 × 2 3 = (2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 )(2 × 2 × 2 ) = 2 8
2. 2 3 × 3 2 ≠ 6 5 2 3 × 3 2 = 2 3 × 3 2 (Note that the base numbers are not the same.)

When dividing the same number with different powers, just subtract the powers.

Example
2× 2× 2× 2× 2 2× 2
1. 2 5 ÷ 2 3 = = = 2 2 = 2 5−3
2×2× 2 1
2 × 2 × 2 1 1
2. 2 3 ÷ 2 5 = = = 2 = 2 − 2 = 2 3−5
2× 2× 2× 2× 2 2× 2 2

Remember a negative power will always tell you that the number is a reciprocal. A reciprocal is a
1 1
fraction where the numerator is 1. For example, 10 −3 = 3 = .
10 1000

Example
Use the properties to simplify the following expressions:
1. 42 × 43 = (4 × 4)× (4 × 4 ×4) = 45 = 42 + 3

2. (42)3 = (42) × (42) × (42) = (4 × 4)× (4 × 4)× (4 × 4) = 42 × 3= 46

3. (4 × 3)3 = (4 × 3) × (4 × 3) × (4 × 3) = 4 × 4 × 4 × 3 × 3 × 3 = 43 × 33

3
 4   4   4  4× 4× 4 4
3
4
4.   =   ×   ×   = = 3
3  3   3   3  3× 3× 3 3

ACTIVITY 1.14
Use the properties to simplify the following expressions:
1. 34 × 32
2
2. (34 )
3. (3 × 4)2
4. (3 / 4)2

Unit 1 - 21 Basic Operations

Examples
Eliminate all negative exponents and simplify as far as possible:
1. x 4 x 7 = x 4+ 7 = x11

1
2. x 3 x −9 = x 3+ ( −9 ) = x −6 =
x6

y 12
3. 5
= y 12−5 = y 7
y
1 1
4 −1 = 1 = = 0,25
4. 4 4
1 1
(−3) −2 = =
5. (−3) 2 9

6. (c )
2 7
= c 2×7 = c 14

7. (5 x )2 = 5 2 ⋅ x 2 = 25 x 2

3
h h3 h3
8.   = 3 =
3 3 27

x −5 1
9. 2
= 2 5
y y x

10. (4a c ) (7ac ) = (4 (a ) (c ) )(7ac )

9 3 2 6 2 9 2 3 2 6

= (16a c )(7 ac ) 18 6 6

= (16)(7)a 18 ac 6 c 6
= 112a 19 c 12

4 s 2 t −3 k −6 1s 2 (sk )
4
=
12t 4 (sk )
−4
11.
3t 4 t 3 k 6
s2s4k 4
= 7 6
3t k
s6
= 7 2
3t k

Unit 1 - 22 Basic Operations

 ( )
−3 5
x  y 2 x3 4
  y  3  y 8 x 12 
5

12.     =   
 y  z −2   x   z − 2 
 
3
 y
(
=   y 8 x 12 z 2
5
)
x

(
 y 3  40 60 10
=  3  y x z )
x 
= y 3 y 40 x −3 x 60 z 10
= y 43 x 57 z 10

ACTIVITY 1.15
Simplify the following and leave your answers in exponent form. (No calculators)
1. 3 −2 × 3 3 × 3 −1
2. 2 2 × 3 2 × 33 × 2 −4
3. 2 3 ÷ 2 5
23
4. −5
2
(
5. 2 3 × 3 −4 ) 2

6. 3 p 2 × 2 p 3 − 2 p 5

SECTION 5 ROOTS

LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this section you should be able to:
■ Evaluate and apply the properties for square roots.
■ Evaluate and apply the properties for any n-th root.

5.1 INTRODUCTION
The square root of a number is that non-negative number which, when squared, produces the
original number. For example, 4 = 2 , because 2 2 = 4 .

Unit 1 - 23 Basic Operations

5.2 SQUARE ROOT

DEFINITION
a = b ⇔ b2 = a where b and a are both non-negative.
− a = −b ⇔ b = a 2
where b and a are both non-negative.

Example
1. 81 = 9 ⇔ 9 2 = 81
2. − 81 = −9 ⇔ 9 2 = 81
3. − 81 is not defined

NOTE
Properties:
* The square root of a negative number is not defined. For example − 2 is not defined.
* a×b = a × b
a a
* =
b b
* a+b≠ a + b

Example
1. 9 + 16 = 25 = 5
2. 9 + 16 = 3 + 4 = 7
Note that the answers for no.1 and 2are not the same, because a+b≠ a + b .
3. 9 × 4 = 36 = 6
4. 9 × 4 = 3× 2 = 6
Note that the answers for no.3 and 4are the same, because a×b = a × b .

Unit 1 - 24 Basic Operations

 ACTIVITY 1.16
Evaluate the following: (no calculators)
1. 36 × 64
1
2.
4
12
3.
3
4. 4 + 36

5.3 N-th ROOTS

DEFINITION
n-th root: where n is even:
n
a = b ⇔ (b) n = a the same as for square root, a has to be non-negative.
− n a = −b ⇔ (b) n = a the same as for square root, a has to be non-negative.

Example
1. 4 81 = 3 ⇔ 3 4 = 81
2. − 4 81 = −3 ⇔ 3 4 = 81
3. 4
− 81 is not defined

DEFINITION

n-th root: where n is odd:

n
a = b ⇔ b n = a whereas if a is positive then b is positive, and if a is negative then b is negative.

Example
1. 3 8 = 2 ⇔ 2 3 = 8
2. 3 − 8 = −2 ⇔ (−2) 3 = −8

Unit 1 - 25 Basic Operations

 NOTE
Properties
1

1. n
a = an

( a)
m
m
2. n
a m
= n
=a n

m
1 1 −
3. = m
=a n
n
am n
a

ACTIVITY 1.17
Find the roots, if they exist: (no calculators)
1. 3 − 27
2. − (−8) 4
3
3. 64
4. − ( 4) 2

ACTIVITY 1.18
Evaluate these expressions, without a calculator.
1. (9 + 16) × 36

2. 23 − 33

3 × 10 4 × 4 × 10 −3
3.
16 × 10 4 × 10 −5

3 × 10 4 + 4 × 10 4
4.
7 × 10 4

5. − 18 − 7 × (2 − 5) + 3 27 ÷ 5

Unit 1 - 26 Basic Operations

ANSWERS TO UNIT 1 ACTIVITIES

ACTIVITY 1.1
2. Round off 8 564 245 to the nearest
(a) 8 564 250
(b) 8 564 200
(c) 8 564 000
(d) 9 000 000
4. R4 700,00
6. R23 300

ACTIVITY 1.4
Evaluate the following mentally:
2. 30
4. 74
6. 1
8. 18

ACTIVITY 1.7
2. 0,006859 × 10 3

ACTIVITY 1.8
2. (a) 1× 10 6
(b) 1× 10 9
(c) 1 × 10 −4

ACTIVITY 1.9
2. 3× 1010
4. (i) 1,752 × 10 4
(ii) 13127,9km/h

ACTIVITY 1.11
2. 4 2
4. 3 2

Unit 1 - 27 Basic Operations

ACTIVITY 1.12
2. (a) 16
(b) 8
(c) -36

ACTIVITY 1.13
1
2. −
27

ACTIVITY 1.14
2. 38
3
4. 2
4

ACTIVITY 1.5
2. 2 −2 × 35
4. 2 8
6. 4 p 5

ACTIVITY 1.16
1
2.
2
4. 2 10

ACTIVITY 1.17
2. -64
4. Not defined

ACTIVITY 1.18
2. 2 3 − 33
4. 1

Unit 1 - 28 Basic Operations