Question

12p^2+8p^2=

I know the answer is 20p^2 but why don't we add the exponents?

Answer 1

20p^2

Explanation:

I know you feel like not adding the exponents is wrong but you have been doing this in math for a long time now.

2x+2x=4x notice here each of the 2x and 2x both have an invisible exponent of 1. when we added them together it became just 4x. we call this exponent rules in mathematics. When you add numbers with the same exponent you keep the value of the exponent the same.

We only add exponents if we are multiplying the coefficients together. For example 2x * 2x = 4x^2