Question 322610: Combine like terms. Write all answers in descending order
6x^2 + 2x^4 − 2x^2 − x^4 − 4x^2 + x
please help me with this
Answer by jessica43(140)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! In algebraic expressions, like terms are terms that contain the same variables raised to the same power. Only the coefficients of like terms are different. For example, you can combine 2x^2 and 3x^2 because they both have the same variable (x) raised to the same power (2). You cannot combine x^2 and x^4 because they have different powers (2 and 4). You also couldn't combine y^2 and x^2 because they have different variables (x and y).
To combine like terms, you add the coefficients together. For example, combining 2x^2 and 3x^2, you would add the coefficients so your answer would be 5x^2.
For this problem, I would first rewrite the numbers in descending order to it is easier to combine:
6x^2 + 2x^4 − 2x^2 − x^4 − 4x^2 + x=
2x^4-x^4+6x^2-2x^2-4x^2+x
Now combine like terms (I am doing each combination as a separate step):
2x^4-x^4 = 2x^4-1x^4= x^4
6x^2-2x^2-4x^2 = 0x^2 = 0
Now combine it all together
2x^4-x^4+6x^2-2x^2-4x^2+x=
x^4+0+x=
x^4 + x
Your answer is x^4 + x.
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