Exercise 34 Page 490

The first step in simplifying this expression is to identify which, if any, terms can be combined. Remember that only like terms — constant terms or terms with the same variable and the same exponent — can be combined. ( 2g^4 - 3g + 9)+(- g^3 + 12g) In this case the only variable is g, but the variable terms have various exponents. The terms with the same exponent are - 3g and 12g, and therefore these are the only ones that can be combined. To simplify the expression we will use the Commutative Property of Addition and then combine like terms.