Exercise 54 Page 491

The first step in simplifying this expression is to identify which, if any, terms can be combined. Remember, only like terms — constant terms or terms with the same variable and the same exponent — can be combined. ( 8x^3 - 5x + 1)-( x^2 + 4) In this case we have one x^3-term, one x^2-term, one x-term and two constants. Only the constants can be combined, so to simplify the expression we will remove parentheses, rearrange it according to the Commutative Property of Addition, and then combine like terms.