Unit 7, Lesson 8
Combining Bases
Grade 8
Preparation
Lesson Narrative
In this lesson, students explore what happens with exponent rules when the bases are different. They make use of structure when decomposing numbers into their constituent factors and regrouping them (MP7). This leads to the new rule . Students also attend to precision in the language they use to explain this new rule (MP6).
- Generalize a process for multiplying expressions with different bases having the same exponent, and justify (orally and in writing) that $(ab)^n = a^n \boldcdot b^n$.
Let’s multiply expressions with different bases.
Required Materials
Activity 3
Required Preparation
Create a visual display (or add to an existing display) of the exponent rule to be displayed for all to see throughout the unit. A sample display can be seen in the Activity Synthesis.