8OPERATIONS WITH POLYNOMIALS
So far, we've focused on linear expressions. In this chapter, we'll discuss operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) with non-linear expressions, whose variables have exponents that are greater than 1.
8.1 Adding and Subtracting Polynomials
Let's start by looking at an addition problem: 204 + 650. What's wrong with the following work?
It ignores the importance of 0 as a placeholder for the tens in 204 and for the zeros in 650. If we rewrite 204 and 650 in expanded form (in other words, as powers of 10), we get the following:
Writing the numbers in this way shows that we need to “line ...
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