I was having trouble simplifying an expression earlier but I just solved it now while I was posting this. However, I'm still a bit confused about the results. Here is the problem. (x^n / x^n+1) / [x^2 * (x * x^-3)] In the book, the solution is x^-1 but I kept getting x^-3 Here's how it's supposed to be done: (x^n / x^n+1) / [x^2 * (x * x^-3)] (x^n / x^n+1) / [(x^2 * x) * (x^2 * x^-3)] (x^n / x^n+1) / [(x^2+1) * (x^2-3)] (x^n / x^n+1) / [(x^3) * (x^-1)] (x^n / x^n+1) / [x^3-1] (x^n / x^n+1) / [x^2] (x^n-n+1) / [x^2] (this is where I had trouble) (x^1) / [x^2] x^1-2 x^-1 I kept getting x^-3 because I used the calculator for (x^n / x^n+1) only to keep getting that it simplified to x^-1 Try 2^2 / 2^3 and you get the same result as x^-1 Try 3^4 / 3^5 and you get the same result as x^-1 If it truly were x^1 then the calculator would've returned the value for x that I gave it. (x^-1) / [x^2] x^-1-2 x^-3 I want to know why I kept getting that answer and why I was wrong.