Gareth56 Posted November 16, 2008 Share Posted November 16, 2008 Can I ask why for example:- 8a^5 b^5 + 10a^5 b^5 = 18a^5 b^5 and not 18a^10 b^10 Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timo Posted November 16, 2008 Share Posted November 16, 2008 Two possible answers: 1) Why should it? 2) That's what the distributive property of the real numbers is like: 3x + 2x = (3+2)x = 5x hence 8a^5 + 10a^5 = (8 + 10)a^5 = 18a^5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bignose Posted November 16, 2008 Share Posted November 16, 2008 Atheist has it spot on. Put some numbers in there to show it to be wrong. Let a^5 = 7 and let b^5 = 10 8*7*5 + 10*7*5 = 280 + 350 = 630 = 18*7*5 Not 18*(7*7)*(5*5) = 22050 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrP Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 Had it been a multiplication you would add the powers though: 8a^5 b^5 X 10a^5 b^5 = 80a^10 b^10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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