Okay {{custom.firstName}}, we’re tackling one of the major mysteries of the universe here.

8.7.5

Maybe this is just my autocomplete search results, but the top question after just typing the words “Why is something” into Google is “Why is something to the power of 0 1?”

 

When you’re just stepping into the world of exponents, it feels like the answer should be 0. By the end of this lesson, students will have many different ways to explain to themselves and each other why the answer is 1.

 

Check out these students’ responses:

  • Because as we learned on screen 2, 6^0 is the equivalent of 6/6 and that is 1.
  • 6 to the power of 1 is 6 and 6 to the power of -1 is 1/6, the exact middle of those would be 6 to the 0 power or 1. 
  • I could convince someone this by telling them how every zero power is that divided by itself.

I’ve encouraged you throughout this unit and I’ll encourage you here again to celebrate and develop those different responses. Snapshot some of your favorites. Then perhaps ask those students to share something about the other responses that helped them learn.


In doing so, you’ll help students understand that mathematical authority isn’t just inside their teacher’s head, but inside their head as well, and inside their classmates’ heads, and that all of us are smarter than any one of us.

 

Dan & the Desmos Classroom Team

PS. Please give us feedback on the last lesson.

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How likely is it that you would recommend this lesson to a friend or colleague?

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Great advice from other teachers.

East Hartford, RI

 

Pace and monitor appropriately. I think there are some big understandings in the first few slides that need to be acknowledged before moving on to future slides in order to set students up for success.

 

 Vancouver, WA

 

Expand the table to include an example of a fraction to write negative exponents.

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