Question

Can anyone help me in explaining subtraction of polynomials please help I’m desperate and I’m pretty much on my own when it comes to math!

Answer 1

Answer:

Think of combining like terms when subtracting polynomials. For example, 3x² and -2x². They both have x² in common. So, if you were to combine 3x² and -2x², it would be like 3x² + (-2x²). Think of this like 3 + (-2), which equals 1. In this case, it would equal 1x² or x².

Let's take this problem for example: 6x² - 3x + 4 - (-2x² +2x - 2)

Parentheses are super important; The first thing you want to do is distribute the negative sign out to everything inside the parentheses!

So,

6x² - 3x + 4 - (-2x² +2x - 2) *multiply the neg. to -2x², 2x, and -2

Now, if you do that, the equation would now look like:

6x² - 3x + 4 + 2x² - 2x + 2

Now think of combining like terms. Here are the like terms:

6x² - 3x + 4 + 2x² - 2x + 2 (Let's rewrite it to look like this...)

6x² + 2x² - 3x - 2x + 4 + 2

Let's combine the x²'s first, so... 6x² + 2x² = 8x²

Let's combine the x's, so... -3x - 2x = -5x

Let's combine the constants (numbers with no variable), so... 4 + 2 = 6

Your solution should be 8x² - 5x + 6