How do you add #(12a^5 - 6a - 10a^3) - (10a - 2a^5 - 14a^4)#?

1 Answer
Apr 19, 2018

#14a^5+14a^4-10a^3-16a#

Explanation:

All you have to do is distribute the negative through the second half of the equation #-(10a-2a^5-14a^4)# to get #-10a+2a^5+14a^4#.

Rewriting your equation you get #12a^5-6a-10a^3-10a+2a^5+14a^4#

Now you can look to see if you can combine like terms, i.e. terms that have the same degree of "a" in them.

#12a^5# and #2a^5# are like terms. #-6a# and #-10a# are also like terms. The other two terms cannot combine with anything as they share no like terms.

The final answer, after adding up the like terms, is #14a^5+14a^4-10a^3-16a#