Working with Binomials
What is a Binomial?
Here are some examples of binomials:
In each example, we only have a 1st and 2nd term making them binomials. Now let’s look at different problems we can find binomials in.
Adding and Subtracting with Binomials
1) Adding Binomials
When adding two or more binomials, simply collect like terms and then add them together.
Like terms: Terms that have the same variable to the same power. Let’s try some examples.
#1
To begin this question, we can first drop the parenthesis since each binomial is not being affected by a factor outside of it. So now we have
Now all we must do is collect like terms and simplify
Done!
#2
In this example, we will start by once again dropping the parenthesis.
We can see that we only have one set of like terms. In this case, they are terms that contain the factor of 
Done!
#3
Since we are only adding the binomials, we can drop the parentheses
Next, we can combine like terms
Notice:
Even though the 
and 
are raised to the power of 2, they cannot be combined. Like terms must have the same variable to the same power to be like terms.
Done!
Watch out for the next article about subtracting binomial.
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