I'll stick with the grade-school math approach, at least until I need to approach it differently. 4^2 = 2 fours multiplied = 4 * 4 = 16 divide by 4 - so you

I'll stick with the grade-school math approach, at least until I need to approach it differently. 4^2 = 2 fours multiplied = 4 * 4 = 16 divide by 4 - so you take away one of the 4s by division(canceling like terms like we do in grade school fraction math): 4^1 = 4*4/4 = 4 divide by 4 again 4^0 = 4*4/(4*4) = 1 divide by 4 again! 4^-1 = 4*4/(4*4*4) = 1/4 Now try it with 0: 0^2 = two zeros multiplied = 0*0 = 0 Divide by 0. Uh-oh. Well, let's keep following grade school fraction math and cancel like terms: 0^1 = 0*0 / 0 = 0 Divide by 0. Hmm - keep canceling like terms. 0^0 = 0*0 / (0*0) = 1 But what's 0^-1? grin