Which expression do you get when you eliminate the negative exponents of 4a^2b^-2/16a^-3b?

this excerpt is taken from the book “we shall not be moved : the women’s factory strike of 1909 “ and is written by joan dash. it is the story of the great strike when almost 30thousand women working in factories in america formed a union to fight unsafe working conditions, long working hours and miserable wages.

question: which best states the author’s purpose for including this information in the text?

answer: to challenge the reader’s ideas about a historical event

its a

step-by-step explanation:

a

i'm guessing it could be 4 or 1 but i think it's 4