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Can you use noninteger powers Like is $x^{8.3} / x^{2.2} = x^{6.1}$?

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    "dora want to know" is a lousy title. Look around the site and see that titles are supposed to be *informative*.2011-03-18
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    Short answer: Yes.2011-03-18
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    Yes, and if you rewrite, say, $x^{8.3}$ as $x^{\frac{83}{10}}$, you can represent the variable as $(\sqrt[10]{x})^{83}$, by the property of the exponents. Same with the other variables inyour question.2011-03-18
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    As others have said, yes, **but** the base must be nonnegative ($x\ge 0$) for things to be well-defined (this is covered in Arturo's answer, but is really critical; his end note about extending to negative bases with complex numbers is true, but has some caveats about uniqueness and choices of principal values).2011-03-18

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