125k views
5 votes
2. Why aren't 25b³e² and 656² c³ terms like terms? This is a trick question. They are like terms O-They have the same variables, but the exponents are not th Because the coefficients are different.​

User Linulin
by
7.5k points

1 Answer

3 votes

Final answer:

The terms 25b³e² and 656²c³ are not like terms because they have different variables and coefficients.

Step-by-step explanation:

The terms 25b³e² and 656² c³ are not like terms because they do not contain the same variables with the same exponents.

Like terms have both the same variables and the identical exponents for those variables.

Here, while the exponents of the coefficients (the 2 in 656²) can be different, the variable parts must match.

For example, in the terms 3x²y and -7x²y, the coefficients 3 and -7 are different, but the variable parts x²y are the same.

Since 25b³e² has the variables b and e raised to the powers of 3 and 2 respectively, and 656² c³ has the variables c raised to the power of 3, they don't match and thus are not considered like terms.

User Divyani Yadav
by
7.3k points