How do you combine like terms in #(6- 8m ^ { 4} + 6m ^ { 2} ) + ( 5m ^ { 2} - m + 5m )#?

1 Answer
Apr 9, 2017

Remove Brackets then Combine like Terms

Explanation:

First remove the parenthesis (brackets) to do this you must use distributive property

In this case we can just remove them as there is only a positive sign but if there was a negative sign we would have to multiply each term by -1

#6-8m^4+6m^2 +5m^2-m+5m#

Then combining like terms, we must follow this rule

  1. To be a common term, the term must have the same variable and the same exponents

#6-8m^4+6m^2 +5m^2-m+5m#

In our equation we have these terms #m^4#, #m^2#, #m# and their corresponding coefficients

Now all we have to do is add apples to apples

#6-8m^4+11m^2-m+5m# - In this step we added #6m^2 and 5m^2#
#6-8m^4+11m^2+4m# - Then add #-4m and 5m#
#6-8m^4+11m^2+4m# There is no longer any terms to be combined therefore it is simplified.

#-8m^4+11m^2+4m+6#

It is good to order your numbers based on variables and exponents