Worksheet on Indices

ACE-Learning Systems Pte Ltd 1

Chung Cheng High School (Main)

Name: ______________________________ ( ) Date: ___________

Class: __________

Practise on indices

Question 1:
Simplify the
( )
2 3
1
2 3
4
2
8 2

c ab
c a
b a
c
, leaving your answer in positive indices.

Question 2:
Simplify
2
2
3
2
15
4 5
2
mn
m
n
m
m
|
.
|

\
|

. Give your answer in positive index form.

Question 3:
Simplify
(a) ( )
2
1

4
3
81
3
1

|
.
|

\
|
y
x

(b)
0.8
5
1
8
32 9
4
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
|
|
.
|

\
|

x
x


Question 4:
Simplify the following leaving your answers in positive index.
(a)
2 0 1 2
) ( b a ab


(b)
2
2
4
3
2

|
.
|

\
|

x
y
z
y x


Question 5:
Solve the equation
4 2 1
27 3

=
x x
.

Question 6:
Express x in terms of y if
y x +
=
4
25 125 .

Question 7:
Given that
5
10 5 . 1 = p and
3
10 2 . 2

= q , evaluate the following giving your answer in
standard form.
(a)
3
q p
(b) q p
7
10
Worksheet on Indices

ACE-Learning Systems Pte Ltd 2


Question 8:
005 . 8094 10 5 10 4 10 9 10 8
1 3
= + + +
y x
where x and y are integers.
Write down the value of x and the value of y.

Question 9:
Simplify
3 2 1
] ) 2 [(

x and express your answers in positive indices.

Question 10:
Given that 10
p
= 2, 10
q
= 3 and 10
r
= 1250, calculate the value of
r q p +2 3
10 , giving your
answer in standard form.

Question 11:
Simplify
( )( )
( )
2
8
x x
x x x x

+
and express your answers in positive indices.

Question 12:
Given that ) 3 ( 2 9 9 ) 3 ( 4
1
2
2 +
+ =
w
w
w
, find the value of w.

Question 13:
Given that
x x x x 2 1 2 3
7 81 7 3 =
+
, find the value of 21
x
.

Question 14:
Given that
y x n n
5 2 5 10
3 4 2
=

, express x and y in terms of n.

Question 15:
Solve the following equations:
(a) 4
2
1
= x ,
(b) 3 27
9
1
1
=
y
.

Question 16:
Simplify the following, expressing your answer in positive indices,
(a) ( )
2
1
3
0
2
3

ab b a ,
(b)
( )
( )
3
2 1
1
2
2
1 3
3
6 2

c
d c
cd
d c
.

Question 17:
(a) Factorise
n n
3 7 3
3

+
.
Worksheet on Indices

ACE-Learning Systems Pte Ltd 3

(b) Hence, or otherwise, express
n n
n
3 7 3
3 20
3
1

as a fraction in its simplest form.

Question 18:
Given that 2
x
(125) = 10
y
(16), write down the value of x and of y.

Question 19:
Simplify and express
8
4
2
0 4
5
) 3 (
) 9 (
) 9 (

p
p
p
p
in positive index form.

Question 20:
Simplify and express
2 3 7
k k k in positive index form.

Question 21:
Given that
3
1
9
3 27
2
=

n
n
, find the value of n.

Question 22:
Light travels at a speed of 300 000 000 m/s.
(a) Express this speed, in km/h, leaving your answer in standard form.
(b) Taking the distance between the Earth and the Moon to be km 10 06 . 4
5
find the
number of seconds that light takes to travel this distance.

Question 23:
Given 3 11 ) 11 (
11
32
1 2 2
= +
n n
, find the value of n.

Question 24:
Solve
m
a a a =
4
1
2
, leave your answer in fraction form.

Question 25:
Simplify
0
3
1
5
3
5
3
2
1
3
2
2
4
) 2 (
|
|
.
|

\
|

q p
p
p
p
p
.

Question 26:
Given that 5 2 =
x
, find the value of
x
x
|
.
|

\
|
+

8
1
) 2 (
2
.

Question 27:
Solve 192 2 3
3
=
x
.

Question 28:
Worksheet on Indices

ACE-Learning Systems Pte Ltd 4

Show that
) 4 ( 8 4
20 ) 2 5 ( 20

=
m m
.

Question 29:
(a) Simplify
2
3
3 1 2
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
n
n
m
m m
, giving your answers in positive indices.
(b) Hence, if m is a whole number, write down a possible value of n for which
2
3
3 1 2
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
n
n
m
m m
is a rational number.

Question 30:
The land area of a country is 250 km
2
and the population is 0.5 billion.
On average, how many people lived on 1 m
2
of land?

Question 31:
The population of Country X is
6
10 2 . 5 . There are
4
10 60 children in Country X.
(a) What fraction of the whole population are children? Give your answer in its simplest
form.
(b) The population of Country Y is
7
10 286 . How many more people are there in
Country Y than Country X? Give your answer in standard form.

Question 32:
Solve the simultaneous equations.
1 4 2
81 9 3
2
=
=
y x
y x


Question 33:
Solve
81
10
9
1
9
5 2
= +
x
.

Question 34:
Solve the equation
3 6 5
8
16
1
+

= |
.
|

\
|
x
x
.

Question 35:
If 27m
3x
= 8 and m > 0, find the exact value of
x x
m m

3
4
.

Question 36:
Find the integer n such that 8
n
+ 8
n
+ 8
n
+ 8
n
= 2
50
.

Question 37:
Given that 2
x
= 5, find the value of 4
x
+ 8
x
.

Worksheet on Indices

ACE-Learning Systems Pte Ltd 5

Question 38:
Solve 243 9 3 27
1 1 3
=
+ + z z z
.

Question 39:
Solve the equation 0 27 ) 3 ( 12 3
2
= +
x x
.

Question 40:
Using substitution, solve 0 2 ) 2 ( 9 2
2 2
= +
+ x x
.

Question 41:
Simplify as positive indices,
5
3
2
2 3
5
2
8
) 2 (
y
x
xy
y

.

Question 42:
Simplify
5 . 0 3
5 . 2 0
3
2
) 27 (
) (
z y
z x

, leaving your answers in the lowest terms.

Question 43:
Simplify
3
3
1
4 1
3 0
2 1 3
6 ) 2 (
|
|
.
|

\
|

c
d c
d c
d c
, expressing your answer in positive indices.

Question 44:
Find the value of x in
x
a a a =
4
1
2
.

Question 45:
Express
2
1
8 9
6 5
(

y x
y x
in the form x
a
y
b
, where a and b are integers. Hence, find the value
of
b
a
.



Question 46:
Simplify
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
|
|
.
|

\
|

2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
y y y y and leave your answer in positive index.

Question 47:
Worksheet on Indices

ACE-Learning Systems Pte Ltd 6

Simplify
4
1
16 2
3
2
1
3
1
) 81 (
1
27
y x
y x
|
|
.
|

\
|
and leave your answer in positive index notation.

Question 48:
Find the value of a in
a
s s s =
|
|
|
.
|

\
|
4
2
1
3
, leaving your answer as a mixed number where
necessary.

Question 49:
Simplify
2
2
1
2
1
2 3 2 2
) 2 ( ) 9 (
12 ) 2 (

y xy
y x x
.

Question 50:
Simplify
16
25
8
5
3
2
2 5 3 3 2
z y x xz y x
.

Question 51:
Simplify
1
2 2 2
6
10
12
5

|
|
.
|

\
|

xy y x
.

Question 52:
Given that
0
3 2 1
2
1
32 8 |
.
|

\
|
=
x x
, find the value of x.