Example 1 Perform the indicated operation for each of the following.
<span>(a) </span>Add to
<span>(b) </span>Subtract
Solution
(a) Add to .
The first thing that we should do is actually write down the operation that we are being asked to do.
In this case the parenthesis are not required since we are adding the two polynomials. They are there simply to make clear the operation that we are performing. To add two polynomials all that we do is combine like terms. This means that for each term with the same exponent we will add or subtract the coefficient of that term.
In this case this is,
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(b) Subtract from .
Again, let’s write down the operation we are doing here. We will also need to be very careful with the order that we write things down in. Here is the operation
