What is the value of a¹?

The value of ( a^1 ) simplifies according to the rules of exponents. When any number ( a ) is raised to the power of 1, it is equal to itself. This means that ( a^1 = a ).

Therefore, if ( a ) is any non-zero number, or even if ( a ) is zero, raising it to the power of 1 simply returns the original value ( a ). This is a fundamental property of exponents.

In contrast, the other choices do not align with this property. The option for 1 would imply that any base raised to the first power equals 1, which is only true if the base is specifically 1. The choice of 0 does not hold since ( a ) can take any value, and referring to the term as undefined inaccurately describes the outcome, as it will always yield a defined value. Thus, the correct answer clearly follows the established rules of exponents.