Before we get into all the fun things we can do with monomials, we better first define a monomial! It sounds like a strange word, but let's look at it's prefix.
Monomial - the prefix mono means one.
A monomial is one term.
A monomial can be any of the following:
In the equations unit, we said that terms were separated by a plus sign or a minus sign. Therefore:
A monomial CANNOT contain a plus sign (+) or a minus (-) sign.
Let's take a look at one more example.
Of the following three terms, which one is NOT a monomial?
1. 9xyz
2. (3xy)2
3. 2x+2y3
Did you pick number 3?
If so, you are correct! 2x+2y3 is not a monomial because there is a plus sign. In this case, we are adding 2 monomials!
Ok... I think you are ready to move on to multiplying monomials!
Comments
We would love to hear what you have to say about this page!