Question

How do you combine like terms in `(x ^ { 2} + 3x - 1) + ( 5x ^ { 2} - 4x + 4)`?

Answer 1

`6x^2-x+3`

Explanation:

Think of this as:

`color(blue)(+1(x^2+3x-1))" "color(brown)(+" "1(5x^2-4x+4))`

Multiply everything inside both brackets by `+1` giving:

`" "color(blue)(x^2+3x-1)" "color(brown)(+" "5x^2-4x+4)`

Collecting like terms:

`x^2+5x^2" "+3x-4x" "+4-1`

`" "6x^2" "-x" "+3`

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

`6x^2-x+3`

Answer 2

you would combine like terms with by finding terms that look alike and have the same exponents or coefficients.

Explanation:

x^2 would combine with 5x^2 becoming 6x^2
3x would combine with - 4x becoming -1x , the 4 is negative because it is behind a subtraction sign and 3 is positive because it is behind an addition sign.
Then you would combine -1 and 4 this would become 3
your final answer after combining like terms woule be
6x^2-1x+3