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Adding and Subtracting Monomials

Because every monomial is a term, adding and subtracting monomials follows the same procedure as combining like terms. Two monomials can be combined only if they are like terms — that is, they share exactly the same variable(s) raised to exactly the same exponent(s). When monomials are like terms, they are combined by adding or subtracting their coefficients while leaving the variable part unchanged. If the monomials are not like terms, they cannot be combined and the expression is already in its simplest form. For example, 25y2+15y2=40y225y^2 + 15y^2 = 40y^2 because both monomials contain y2y^2, so the coefficients 25 and 15 are added. However, u2vu^2v, 5u25u^2, and 3v23v^2 cannot be combined because each has a different variable structure.

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Updated 2026-04-29

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