1/4x^5-3+1/2x^5-6x-35 how do you combine like terms with this problem

Question

1/4x^5-3+1/2x^5-6x-35 my teacher wants me to combine like terms with this problem how do i do this

Answer 1

Combining like terms means adding or subtracting the coefficients of terms that have the same variables. x^2 can only be combined with x^2, x^4 with x^4, and so on.

In your problem, you have two terms that have an x^5 and two terms that have no variable, so you would combine the two x^5 terms and then you would combine the two non x terms.

An example: 7x^2 + 3 - 4x^2 + 5x + 2

7x^2 and -4x^2 are like terms.
3 and 2 are like terms.
5x has no like terms so it just stays the same.

 7x^2 - 4x^2 = 3x^2  and 3 + 2 = 5   and 5x = 5x

So the answer would be    3x^2 + 5x + 5