Evaluating 6^1 + 6^-1 / 6^1 - 6^-1

[pandamonium786]

Homework Statement

Evaluate:
6^1 + 6 ^ −1 / 6^1 − 6 ^ −1

Homework Equations

Exponent Laws

The Attempt at a Solution

6^1 + 6 ^ −1 / 6^1 − 6 ^ −1
= 6^1 + 6 ^1 / 6^1 − 6 ^ 1 (I flipped the side - top or bottom - of the negative exponent numbers)
=12/0

but i think i did it wrong

 

[Bystander]

(I flipped the side - top or bottom - of the negative exponent numbers)

Any particular reason?

but i think i did it wrong

Yup, I think that also.

 

[pandamonium786]

Any particular reason?

Yup, I think that also.

Well I flipped it because you can't have negative exponents. Also how would you solve the problem?

 

[Bystander]

you can't have negative exponents

Planck's constant is 6.626x10^-34J⋅s.

 

[Ray Vickson]

Well I flipped it because you can't have negative exponents. Also how would you solve the problem?

Who says you cannot have negative exponents? They occur everywhere, all the time.

Of course, I am not allowed to tell you how I would solve the problem, but I am allowed to give hints. The most important hint I can offer is for you to use parentheses, so you can keep things straight. The way you have written it reads as
$$6^1 + \frac{6^{-1}}{6^1} - 6^{-1}$$
if parsed according to standard rules for reading expressions. However, maybe you mean
$$\frac{6^1 + 6^{-1}}{ 6^1 - 6^{-1}}$$
If the latter is what you want then you should write (6^1 + 6^(-1))/(6^1 - 6^(-1)), or [6^1 + 6^(-1)]/[6^1 - 6^(-1)] if you don't want too many "((" or "))" in a row. Note that I write 6^(-1), and not 6^-1, but those parentheses are probably not as important as the ones that delimit the numerator and denominator.

 

[HallsofIvy]

If your problem was, as Ray Vickson suggests, (6+ 6^(-1))/(6- 6^(-1))= (6+ 1/6)/(6- 1/6) then get rid of those "1/6" fractions by multiplying numerator and denominator by 6