Which expression is equivalent to open paren 16 x to the 8th power y to the negative 12 power close paren raised to the 1 half power ?

Raise each factor inside the parentheses to the 1/2 power: 16^(1/2) = 4, x^(8·1/2) = x^4, and y^(-12·1/2) = y^-6. A negative exponent means the factor goes in the denominator, so the expression is 4x^4/y^6. Wait: the listed choices have 4 or 8 as the numerator; since the question is (16x^8y^-12)^(1/2), the numerator is 4, which is choice C.

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