Simplify the Expression: a⁴a⁸a⁻⁷/a⁹ Using Exponent Rules

$\frac{a^4a^8a^{-7}}{a^9}=\text{?}$

Let's recall the law of exponents for multiplication between terms with identical bases:

$b^m\cdot b^n=b^{m+n}$We'll apply this law to the fraction in the expression in the problem:

$\frac{a^4a^8a^{-7}}{a^9}=\frac{a^{4+8+(-7)}}{a^{^9}}=\frac{a^{4+8-7}}{a^9}=\frac{a^5}{a^9}$where in the first stage we'll apply the aforementioned law of exponents and in the following stages we'll simplify the resulting expression,

Let's now recall the law of exponents for division between terms with identical bases:

$\frac{b^m}{b^n}=b^{m-n}$We'll apply this law to the expression we got in the last stage:

$\frac{a^5}{a^9}=a^{5-9}=a^{-4}$Let's now recall the law of exponents for negative exponents:

$b^{-n}=\frac{1}{b^n}$And we'll apply this law of exponents to the expression we got in the last stage:

$a^{-4}=\frac{1}{a^4}$Let's summarize the solution steps so far, we got that:

$\frac{a^4a^8a^{-7}}{a^9}=\frac{a^5}{a^9}=\frac{1}{a^4}$Therefore, the correct answer is answer A.