Eric Nicholas K's answer to Skr's Secondary 3 A Maths Singapore question.

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Eric Nicholas K
Eric Nicholas K's answer
5997 answers (Tutor Details)
1st
The condition that a > b > 1 is just for the rejection purpose.

Recall that for x^a

- if x > 1, x^a increases as a increases
- if x = 1, x^a is always 1 regardless of a.
- if 0 < x < 1, x^a decreases as a increases.
- if x = 0, x^a = 0 for all values of a except 0.
- x^a is not defined for x < 0.