Answer:
none of the choices is correct. (Have your teacher show you how to work this.)
Explanation:
It can be helpful to consider where the rules of exponents come from.
Exponents are a way of indicating repeated multiplication. For example,
... x·x·x = x³
If we have ...
... x·x·x·y·y·y
then we can write this expression as ...
... x³·y³ . . . . . the exponent on each variable indicates the number of times it is a factor in the product
By the commutative and associative properties of multiplication, we can rearrange this product to be ...
... x·y·x·y·x·y = (xy)·(xy)·(xy) = (xy)³
This is the same product we had above, which is to say ...
... (xy)³ = x³·y³
_____
If the exponent is a instead of 3, the same idea applies.
... (xy)^a = x^a·y^a . . . . . . . . your answer choice c is close but has y^b, not y^a
