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As this example shows, when like terms exist in an expression, they may be combined by adding or subtracting (whatever the expression indicates) the coefficients, and maintaining the common factor of both terms. Such combination is called combining like terms or collecting like terms, and it is an important tool used for solving equations.
In particular, terms appear as components of a formula. A first-order term is recursively constructed from constant symbols, variables, and function symbols. An expression formed by applying a predicate symbol to an appropriate number of terms is called an atomic formula, which evaluates to true or false in bivalent logics, given an interpretation.
A visual memory tool can replace the FOIL mnemonic for a pair of polynomials with any number of terms. Make a table with the terms of the first polynomial on the left edge and the terms of the second on the top edge, then fill in the table with products of multiplication. The table equivalent to the FOIL rule looks like this:
Two terms with the same indeterminates raised to the same powers are called "similar terms" or "like terms", and they can be combined, using the distributive law, into a single term whose coefficient is the sum of the coefficients of the terms that were combined.
The polynomial () (+) is a cubic polynomial: after multiplying out and collecting terms of the same degree, it becomes + +, with highest exponent 3.. The polynomial (+ +) + (+ + +) is a quintic polynomial: upon combining like terms, the two terms of degree 8 cancel, leaving + + + +, with highest exponent 5.
Algebra is the branch of mathematics that studies certain abstract systems, known as algebraic structures, and the manipulation of expressions within those systems. It is a generalization of arithmetic that introduces variables and algebraic operations other than the standard arithmetic operations, such as addition and multiplication.
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