Find all School-related info fast with the new School-Specific MBA Forum

 It is currently 29 Apr 2016, 21:17

### GMAT Club Daily Prep

#### Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

# Events & Promotions

###### Events & Promotions in June
Open Detailed Calendar

# When exponents are equal, are bases equal too?

Author Message
TAGS:

### Hide Tags

Current Student
Joined: 11 Sep 2012
Posts: 91
GMAT 1: Q V
GMAT 2: Q V0
Followers: 0

Kudos [?]: 18 [1] , given: 9

When exponents are equal, are bases equal too? [#permalink]

### Show Tags

20 Nov 2013, 23:53
1
KUDOS
When exponents are equivalent, are bases equal?

E.g. x and y are not 0 or 1

If x^3a = y^3a, is x = y?
Magoosh GMAT Instructor
Joined: 28 Dec 2011
Posts: 2947
Followers: 1002

Kudos [?]: 4293 [0], given: 48

Re: When exponents are equal, are bases equal too? [#permalink]

### Show Tags

21 Nov 2013, 12:40
Expert's post
bschoolaspirant9 wrote:
When exponents are equivalent, are bases equal?

E.g. x and y are not 0 or 1

If x^3a = y^3a, is x = y?

Dear bschoolaspirant9,
I'm happy to help.

First of all, I believe what you mean is
x^(3a) = y^(3a)
See:
http://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-quant ... g-symbols/

The answer to your question is --- it depends. If the exponent (here, 3a) is an even number, then x and y could have equal absolute values but opposite signs.

For example,
x^2 = y^2
could mean that x = y or that x = -y. There's no way to tell from that starting equation which one is true.

If the exponent is an odd integer, then x = y --- that would be unambiguously clear.

Does this make sense?
Mike
_________________

Mike McGarry
Magoosh Test Prep

Veritas Prep GMAT Instructor
Joined: 16 Oct 2010
Posts: 6473
Location: Pune, India
Followers: 1752

Kudos [?]: 10456 [0], given: 205

Re: When exponents are equal, are bases equal too? [#permalink]

### Show Tags

21 Nov 2013, 21:28
Expert's post
bschoolaspirant9 wrote:
When exponents are equivalent, are bases equal?

E.g. x and y are not 0 or 1

If x^3a = y^3a, is x = y?

To put it simply, given $$x^2 = y^2$$, can you say that x = y? Recall that all we can say is |x| = |y|, not x = y
What about given $$x^3 = y^3$$? Here x = y
_________________

Karishma
Veritas Prep | GMAT Instructor
My Blog

Get started with Veritas Prep GMAT On Demand for \$199

Veritas Prep Reviews

Re: When exponents are equal, are bases equal too?   [#permalink] 21 Nov 2013, 21:28
Similar topics Replies Last post
Similar
Topics:
1 How to solve quadratics when a does NOT equal 1 6 27 Jul 2014, 11:23
1 Adding exponents with the same base 6 15 Jan 2013, 16:18
2 InEqualities on GMAT DS 4 16 Jan 2012, 10:18
12 Which of the following is equal to (2^12 - 2^6)/(2^6 - 2^3) 8 15 Mar 2010, 12:12
Exponents ! 2 04 Feb 2010, 18:17
Display posts from previous: Sort by