Question

It’s been a very long time and I cannot find a simple answer or rule to this… Anyone mind explaining how this is equal?

(i.e. what are the steps needed to get the side to the left of the “=” sign to equal the side on the right?)

(36^24 – 35^24) / 36^24 = 1 – (35/36)^24

Answer 1

Start with:

(36^24 - 35^24) / 36^24

Apply the distributive property — that is, (a*b)*c = a*c + b*c:

= 36^24 / 36^24 - 35^24 / 36^24

Simplify the first expression, because a/a = 1 provided a != 0:

= 1 - 35^24 / 36^24

Now we can apply a^n * b^n = (a * b)^n, for a = 35, b = 1/36, and n = 24:

= 1 - (35/36)^24