Like and unlike terms — lesson. Mathematics State Board, Class 7.

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Terms which have the same variables and powers are like terms.

Example:

$8xy²$ and $−5xy²$ are like terms because they have the same variable $xy^2$ .
$2x^2y$ , $3x^2y$ , $4x^2y$ , $5x^2y$ and $6x^2y$ are like terms because they have the same variable $x^2y$ .
$3a^2bc$ , $- a^2bc$ and $-4 a^2bc$ are like terms because they have the same variable $a^2bc$ .

Important!

Coefficients need not to be same in like terms.

Terms that do not have the same variables or powers are unlike terms.

Example:

$3abc$ and $3xyz$ are unlike terms because they have different variables such as $abc$ and $xyz$ .
$2x^2y$ , $3a^3b$ , $4pq$ , $5r^4s$ and $6d^5e$ are unlike terms because they have different variables such as $x^2y$ , $a^3b$ , $r^4s$ and $d^5e$ .
$3a^2bc$ , $- x^3yz$ and $-4 pqr$ are unlike terms because they have different variables such as $a^2bc$ , $- x^3yz$ and $pqr$ .

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