Adding Exponents With Like Bases
- 1
Simplify the terms. Simplify each term as much as possible until they cannot be simplified any further. (The example cannot be further simplified.) - 2
Perform the operations within parentheses. These operations are done first regardless of what is outside of them. Begin with the terms in parentheses and simplify them as much as possible. (The example shows that the first two terms in parentheses were added together.) - 3). Perform the exponential operations. These operations are often part of the multiplication and division operations unless they are within parentheses, in which case these operations were done in the previous step. (The example has no exponential operations outside of multiplication or division, which are taken care in the next steps.)
- 4
Perform the multiplication and division operations. Multiplying terms with like bases and any exponents results in adding the exponents together while maintaining the same base term. This also results in a simplification of the terms. (The example shows that the first and last terms were multiplied with the terms next to each one.) - 5
Perform the addition and subtraction operations. Adding terms with the same exponent results in adding the coefficients
together while maintaining the same exponent. In essence, the coefficient shows how many times the term with its exponent is multiplied. (The example shows that the two middle terms were added together. Note that the terms cannot be further simplified because no like terms exist.)
