What does an equal sign with a squiggly line on top of it mean

Rewrite the following without an exponent. (5/8)-1

The given dot plot represents the average daily temperatures, in degrees fahrenheit, recorded in a town during the first 15 days of september. if the dot plot is converted to a box plot, the first quartile would be drawn at __ , and the third quartile would be drawn at __ link to graph: .

Astick 2 m long is placed vertically at point b. the top of the stick is in line with the top of a tree as seen from point a, which is 3 m from the stick and 30 m from the tree. how tall is the tree?