IGCSE ADD MATH 0606

Indices and Surds

m
Indices are used to describe the general term with a power. For an example: a ; a is called the base and m is the power.
The power is also often referred to as the “the index” or “the exponent”. Indices rules only apply when the base values are
the same.
The laws of indices

Simplify the following expression:

1 2
16 4
9

3 4
343 16
81

5 6
512 32
243

1
 IGCSE ADD MATH 0606
7 4 ×8 8 16 ÷4

9 125 ÷ 25 10 243 ÷ 81

11 27 × 9 12 32 ÷ 4

13 4 ×8 14 27 ×9

2
 IGCSE ADD MATH 0606
15 3 p  (2 p ) =
2 2 2 16 (2 xy z )  (2 xy z ) =
2 3 2 2 3

17 (7 r ) 2  7 r 3 = 18 (3 y 2 ) 4  (9 y ) 1 =

19 1 20 1

1
( 4a )  a
2 2 2
(2 x y ) 4

3
= 1
=

2 1 2 2
2a (8 x y )

21 125 ÷ 625 22 64 ÷ 16

3
 IGCSE ADD MATH 0606
23 128 ÷ 64 24 9 × 81

25 625 × 25 26 9 ÷ 81

27 Simplify the expression 28 Simplify

25 × 5 2 + 20(8 )
3(2 )

Solve the following equation.

1 4 a  32 2 3
p2  8

4
 IGCSE ADD MATH 0606
3 4 = 512 4 9 = 243

5 25 = 625 6 16 = 64

7 243 = 81 8 125 = 625

9 7 =1 10 11 −1=0

11 
2 12 2 4 x  8 x 1  32
x 3
9

5
 IGCSE ADD MATH 0606
13 (2 )  4
a 3 a 1
 16 14 9 y
 81
27 2 y 1

15 27 3 x 3 x2 16 7 8  49 x  343  x

9 x 4 6561

17 9 18 1

1
15 p  q  (3 p  5q )  x  2x
3 3
 1.
125

19 1024 = 8 × 16 20 32 × 625
=2 5
8 × 25

6
 IGCSE ADD MATH 0606
21 3 243 22 4 × 125
= =2 5
3 27 25 × 16

23 9 × 25 24 16 ÷ 25
=3 5 =2 5
125 × 81 125 ×4

25 16 × 243 26 243 × 25
=2 3 =3 5
81 ×4 125 ÷ 81