Whenever you see a variable (letter) without a number in front of it, the "number" would be 1!
Example:
a = 1a
So simply do basic math! For now, ignore the letters!
2a + a + 2a + a
becomes
2 + 1 + 2 + 1
Once you have your answer, simply add an a to the end!
Your answer will have NO exponents because you're adding! If you were multiplying or dividing the variables, then exponents would be an issue.
Hope this helped! :)
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