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Maths - standard form help pls

hey im resitting maths higher paper and am stuck on a grade B question on standard form, the question is:

work out (4.8 x 10^-1) divided by (8 x 10^-4)
give your answer in standard form

i get the first part where you separately divide the 4.8 by 8 to get 0.6, but i dont understand the next part

any help is appreciated, thanks in advance

Reply 1

ghostwalker

Original post by ThePremierLeague

any help is appreciated, thanks in advance

The next part is to deal with the exponents and this just uses the rules of indices.

So,

10^{-1}/10^{-4}= 10^{-1-(-4)}=10^{-1+4}=10^{3}

So we have

0.6\times 10^3

You now need to adjust it so it's in standard form again.

Reply 2

username1058686

Original post by ghostwalker

The next part is to deal with the exponents and this just uses the rules of indices.

So,

10^{-1}/10^{-4}= 10^{-1-(-4)}=10^{-1+4}=10^{3}

So we have

0.6\times 10^3

You now need to adjust it so it's in standard form again.

thanks very much, I think I get it now

I was confused as I thought both negative powers became a + due to the minus sign which would give 10⁵? but i knew this was wrong because i checked the answer in the back of the book