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In mathematics, like terms are summands in a sum that differ only by a numerical factor. [1] Like terms can be regrouped by adding their coefficients. Typically, in a polynomial expression , like terms are those that contain the same variables to the same powers , possibly with different coefficients .
This can be computed by hand using the distributive property of multiplication over addition and combining like terms, but it can also be done (perhaps more easily) with the multinomial theorem. It is possible to "read off" the multinomial coefficients from the terms by using the multinomial coefficient formula.
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.
In elementary algebra, the binomial theorem (or binomial expansion) describes the algebraic expansion of powers of a binomial.According to the theorem, the power (+) expands into a polynomial with terms of the form , where the exponents and are nonnegative integers satisfying + = and the coefficient of each term is a specific positive integer ...
The commutative law of addition can be used to rearrange terms into any preferred order. In polynomials with one indeterminate, the terms are usually ordered according to degree, either in "descending powers of x", with the term of largest degree first, or in "ascending powers of x". The polynomial 3x 2 − 5x + 4 is written in descending ...
Exponentiation with negative exponents is defined by the following identity, which holds for any integer n and nonzero b: =. [1] Raising 0 to a negative exponent is undefined but, in some circumstances, it may be interpreted as infinity (). [22]
In mathematics, an expansion of a product of sums expresses it as a sum of products by using the fact that multiplication distributes over addition. Expansion of a polynomial expression can be obtained by repeatedly replacing subexpressions that multiply two other subexpressions, at least one of which is an addition, by the equivalent sum of products, continuing until the expression becomes a ...
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.