Addition and Subtraction of Like Terms
We can easily perform addition and subtraction of like terms and it do not require any special rule they are generally simplified using the normal addition and subtraction rules. We can understand this concept using the following example.
Example: Simplify 11x3 + 5x3
Solution:
As we see that these are like term because they have similar variables and their power is also constant.
We can easily add these terms directly.
= 11x3 + 5x3
= 16x3
This is possible because they have the same variables with similar power and this can be understood as, we can directly add rupees to rupees, i.e. 5 Rs + 7 Rs is 12 Rs. But we can not directly add rupees with dollars and 5 Rs + 7 Dollars can not be directly simplified.
Similarly, we can also subtract like terms directly just add we add like terms this can be understood by the following example.
Example 1: Simplify 11x3 – 5x3
Solution:
As we see that these are like term because they have similar variables and their power is also constant.
We can easily subtract these terms directly.
= 11x3 – 5x3
= 6x3
Example 2: Add 3x + 2y + 5 and 4x − 3y + 7.
Solution:
(3x + 2y + 5) + (4x − 3y + 7)
= (3x + 4x) +(2y + (-3y))+ (5 + 7)
= 7x − y + 12
Like and Unlike Algebraic Terms: Definition and Examples
Like terms are terms in algebraic expressions that have the same variables raised to the same powers. Like and Unlike Terms are the types of terms in algebra, and we can differentiate between like and unlike terms by simply checking the variables and their powers. We define algebraic terms as the individual terms obtained from the algebraic equation.
For example in the algebraic equation 5x + 3y2 = 12 we have three terms that are, 5x, 3y², and 12. Here, 5x, and 3y2 are variable terms and 12 is the constant term. The below image shows the like and unlike terms.
In this article, we will learn about Like Terms, Unlike Terms, their Examples, Simplification, and others in detail.