The Rules of Exponents & Adding Polynomials

Exponents are a strange thing, they don't necessarily behave the same as everything else. They go
against the grain and do things their own way. What's key is remembering how they differ and why
they differ. I'll try to provide examples to illustrate the why as I explain things, but don't be weary of
the notion simply because it is different. Maybe keep a handful of numbers in mind that you can work
out quickly to help you figure out how things work if you forget during your tests. Otherwise the best
way is to simply to work problems until you understand them perfectly.

1) When adding, seek like terms & add their constants.

x2 + 3x2 = 4x2
Okay, so why does this work? First, we treat any variable by itself as having the constant 1. Next,
part of factoring allows us to combine like terms in a variety of ways through the principle of
communicativeness. A system that is communicative can be solved in any order, because it doesn't
change the answer so we can manipulate the equation to make it easier on ourselves sometimes.
That's sort of cryptic, but let me try to illustrate it some numbers.

First though, like terms are any set of numbers that share the same factors.

6 + 8 = 3(2) + 4(2) The 2 is the like term here.

= (3 + 4)*2 Through the communicative property I can factor out the 2.
14 = 14 See, they are both the same.

I'm going to rewrite this with variables now.

6 + 8 = 3(x) + 4x The x is the like term.

= (3 + 4)x Factor out the like term x.
14 = 7x Divide both sides by 7.
x = 2 Answer.
= 3(2) + 4(2) Check by plugging answer into original equation.
= 6 + 8 Check good.

In the previous example, we would consider the 3 & 4 the constants. that we are adding together.
According to the first rule up top.

3x2 + 7x2 = 1000 Find like terms. This case x2.

2
(3 + 7)x = 1000 Factor out like term, x2. Add constants.
2
10x = 1000 Divide by 10 on both sides.
x2 = 100 Take the square root of both sides. (I'll explain more below.)
x = 10 Answer.
3(10)2 + 7(10)2 = Check by plugging answer into original equation.
3(100) + 7(100) =
300 + 700 = 1000. Check good.

And for something a little more complicated. Polynomials.

x2 + 4x + 3 = -2x2 + 2x + 11 Lets isolate like terms together first.

+ 2x2
- 2x -11 + 2x2 - 2x - 11 Shift everything to the same side. Add.
3x2 + 2x - 8 = 0 Solving this we'll cover later. For now, that's addition.
Another. This time with mixed variables. It looks harder, but the principles are the same so it is fairly
doable. Don't be afraid of all the wackiness that it can seem like.

3x2y + 7xy2 + x2y - 3xy2 = 0 Isolate like terms. Two here, x2 & y2.
2 2 2 2
3x y + xy + 7xy - 3xy = 0 Rearranging terms.
x2(3y + y) + y2(7x -3x) = 0 Factor.
x2(4y) + y2(4x) = 0 Add constants.
2
4x y + 4xy = 02 Divide by 4 on both sides.
x2y + xy2 = 0 Solving this we'll cover later. For now, that's addition.

When dealing with subtraction. You simply treat it as if you were adding negative numbers so it
works the exact same way as addition. As shown by the 7xy2 - 3xy2.

2) When multiplying numbers with exponents,exponents. add the

x2(x3) = x2+3
= x5
Why does it work like this? This works from what an exponent means. If you didn't know an
exponent means a number times itself however many times the exponent indicates. So 32 means 3 *
3. Okay, so lets rewrite the original problem according to the definition of an exponent.

x * x * (x * x * x) = x?

If we count, that's the number times itself 5 times. So, that becomes x5. Which is 2 + 3 and what we
got in the example above. Now what if it got a little more complicated and say had constants. That's
easy, you multiply the constants.

3x2(2x3) = 6x5

Here. I'll solve it with x = 2 to show that they are the same on both sides.

3(2)2 * 2(2)3 = 6(2)5

3(4) * 2(8) = 6(32) Remember Rules of Operation say Exponents before Multiplying.
12 * 16 = 192
192 = 192 It works.

This also works when you have mixed variables and exponents.

4x2y(2xy3) = 8x3y4 Combine like terms. Constants, x, & y.

(4*2)x2+1y1+3 = 8x3y4 Multiply constants. Add exponents.
8x3y4 = 8x3y4 It works.

Division works like multiplication except you subtract the powers.

x2 = x2-1 = x
x

You also don't say that it works like x/x = 1 because they have different powers.

x2 = x * x so
x2 = x * x = x
x x

Only one of the x on each row cancels which leaves you with an x still. So please avoid thinking that
they cancel the values & becomes 1.

3) When taking an exponent to another power, you multiply the exponents.

(x3)2 = x6

Using the same definition of an exponent that we did in the previous section, you'll notice that we
have x3 squared which means we have to perform the function of x3 twice. That gives me...
x3 * x3
2*3
x * x * x (x * x * x) = x times itself 6 times or x = x6

Here's a number version.

(23)2 = 26
82 = 64
64 = 64

Now as a serious of variables.

(x4)7 = x4*7 Multiply.
= x28

A little bit more complicated & with constants.

(3x2y)4 = 34x2*4y1*4
= 81x8y4

4) The Special Case of the 0 power.

x0 = 1
Why does this work? Actually, it's something we discovered as a result of the second rule I have
listed above.
0 3
x (x ) = x0+3
= x3
0
The only way for that to be true is if x = 1 and that's how we discovered that any number (that
includes variables, because letters are numbers too, heh) raised to the 0 power = 1. This is an
important concept, because it converts any number into a neutral number. A neutral number is like 1
where if you multiply it to other numbers it doesn't change the value of that number. Remember we
used this concept a lot with fractions when we want to find the common denominator. You do need
to pay attention though because 3x0 & (3x)0 are not the same. Don't believe me?

3x0 = 3(1) = 3
The exponent of 0 is only on the x so only the x is changed leaving us with 3 * 1.
(3x)0 = 1
The exponent of 0 applies to everything in the parentheses since Order of Operations says you
solve Parentheses then Exponents.
1 =/= 3.

5) The Special Case of the - exponent.

x-2 = 1
x2
This is a little harder to explain the why it works. Remember when we did fractions and I said
anything to the - power is a reciprocal of that number? Well, I never fully explained why that works. A
positive power is the same as saying that number times itself equals the number squared (or
whatever power).
x * x = x2
But a negative power is saying instead of multiplying you divide 1 by the number the same number
of times.
1 / x / x = 1 / (x * x) = 1 / x2 = x-2
This is because division is really what we call multiplicative inverse. Or multiplying backwards. All
multiplication starts from the neutral number 1 and then moves from there. So any time you have a
number it really is that x * 1 before you started the problem.

31 = 1 * 3
32 = 1 * 3 * 3
33 = 1 * 3 * 3 * 3
And so on and so forth. Negative exponents, however, divide.
3-1 = 1 / 3
3-2 = 1 / 3 / 3
3-3 = 1 / 3 / 3 / 3

It's a somewhat complicated concept, but the crux of it is that multiplication grows things from 1.
Division breaks things down from 1. I like to think of it as soil. Soil grows trees & other plants, that's
the multiplication. Soil also breaks down things through decomposition to provide nutrients to those
plants. Division (multiplicative inverse) also breaks down numbers.

NOTE: Remember to convert the power to positive after you've taken the reciprocal, otherwise you'd
keep inversing ad infinium.