What is y squared multiplied by y cubed?

y^2 X y^3 = y^(2 + 3) = y^5

You can only do this if the coefficient 'y' is the same for both terms.

Remember

y^2 = y X y

y^3 = y X y X y

Hence

y^2 X y^3 = y X y X y X y X y = y^5

Similarly for division/subtraction

y^3 / y^2 = y^(3 - 2 ) = y^1 = y The power of '1' is trivial and not normally shown.

NB You CANNOT do z^2 X y^3 by adding the indices.

z^2 X y^3 is (z^2)*(y^3)